Author: Utah Courts

Code of Judicial Conduct – Comment Period Closed March 13, 2020

CJC03.7. Participation in Education, Religious, Charitable, Fraternal, or Civic Organizations and Activities. Amended. Amends the Code of Judicial Conduct to permit judges to directly engage in fundraising for court projects, as long as the potential donors do not regularly appear in the court the judge serves.

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Code of Judicial Administration – Comment Period Closed March 6, 2020

CJA01-0204. Executive Committees (AMEND). The Judicial Council formalized a new executive committee, the Budget and Fiscal Management Committee. Proposed amendments add the Budget and Fiscal Management Committee to the executive committee list, and define the Committee’s duties.

CJA01-0205. Standing and Ad Hoc Committees (AMEND). The Judicial Council’s Standing Committee on the Online Court Assistance Program (OCAP) no longer exists. Proposed amendments remove the OCAP member positions from the Committee on Resources for Self-Represented Parties and the Committee on Court Forms.

CJA03-0111. Performance Evaluation of Active Senior Judges and Court Commissioners (AMEND). The reporting standards for active judges versus senior judges and commissioners were different. Utah Code 78A-2-223 sets a standard of two months for trial judges. For consistency, the proposed amendments change the standard for senior judges and commissioners from “60 days” to “two months.”

CJA03-0406. Budget and Fiscal Management (AMEND). The proposed amendments reflect the Judicial Council’s policy change regarding its budget process.

CJA04-0905. CJA 4-905. Restraint of Minors in Juvenile Court (AMEND). The proposed amendment eliminates the subsection of the referenced statute to avoid outdated citations in the future.

CJA010-1-0202. Verifying Use of Jury (AMEND). The Second District Court requested that local supplemental rule CJA 10-1-202 be repealed
because it is no longer needed. The Second District follows practices set forth in general rules observed by all other judicial districts.

CJA Appendix FUtah State Court Records Retention Schedule. The first proposed amendment eliminates the requirement that the enhancement forms previously required under Rule 9-301 be retained permanently.  Because Rule 9-301 was
repealed, those records should now be destroyed at the same time as the file to which the record pertains. Eliminating the specific reference in the schedule will default to that result.

The second proposed amendment changes the retention for domestic violence cases to ten years to reflect the change in statute that makes those offenses enhanceable for ten years.

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Rule of Civil Procedure – Comment Period Closed February 10, 2020

URCP086. Licensed paralegal practitioners. AMEND. The approved amendments remove the requirement to serve papers on both the party and the licensed paralegal practitioner, and instead require a licensed paralegal practitioner who has entered a general appearance to inform their client of any papers filed, regardless of whether the paper falls within the scope of the licensed paralegal practitioner’s representation.

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Code of Judicial Conduct – Comment Period Closed February 3, 2020

CJC02.11. Disqualification. Amend. The amendments will clarify that a judge is disqualified from a case in which a lawyer in the proceeding supervises or is supervised by a judge’s family member, but the disqualification requirement is eliminated if the employing entity removes the family member from the lawyer’s line of supervision.

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Rules of Appellate Procedure – Comment Period Closed February 2, 2020

URAP021. Filing and Service. Amend. The proposed amendments to Rules 21 and 26 incorporate Utah Supreme Court Standing Order 11 (Regarding filing documents by email). Rule 21 amendments would allow parties to file and serve papers by email, with different requirements for briefs and papers other than briefs. Paragraph (f) directs the parties on electronic signatures. The amendments in proposed paragraph (b) incorporate the Standing Order’s timing for paying fees.

URAP026. Filing and Service of Briefs. Amend. The proposed amendments to Rule 26 address email service and number of paper copies required in the appellate courts.

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Rules of Appellate Procedure – Comment Period Closed January 4, 2020

URAP005. Discretionary appeals from interlocutory orders. Amend. The proposed amendments to Rules 5 and 10 incorporate substantial changes meant to streamline and modernize the appellate process. For example, the proposed addition of subsection (j) in Rule 5 defines the record on appeal and permits a party to submit an appendix to be filed separately with the party’s principal brief. The proposed amendments authorize citations to the record, to an appendix, or both.

URAP010. Procedures for summary disposition or simplified appeal process. Amend. The proposed amendments to Rule 10 allow specific classes of appeals to be designated for expedited review. The proposed amendments also narrow the grounds for parties to seek summary disposition by limiting such motions to jurisdictional objections. The Court retains its right to summarily dismiss, affirm, or reverse a case on its own initiative.

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Rules of Criminal Procedure – Comment Period Closed January 4, 2020

URCrP009. Proceedings for persons arrested without a warrant on suspicion of a crime. The approved amendments modify the times within which a defendant must appear in court after a warrantless arrest when the defendant has been unable to meet the release conditions set by the magistrate.

URCrP009A. Procedures for persons arrested pursuant to warrant. The approved amendments modify the times within which a defendant must appear in court when the defendant has been arrested pursuant to a warrant and has been unable to meet the release conditions set by the court.

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