November 2022 – Utah Court Rules

Posted: November 21, 2022

Code of Judicial Administration – Effective May 1, 2023

Appendix B. Justice Court Standards for Recertification (AMEND). Code of Judicial Administration Rule 9-108 requires that justice court standards be reviewed and updated every two years. The amendments streamline the appendix, provide clarity, and incorporate recent statutory amendments.

CJA01-0201. Judicial Council Membership – Election (AMEND)

CJA01-0302. Board of Judges – Membership – Officers – Secretariat (AMEND)

Clarifies that Council members may serve as non-voting members of a trial court board and continues to allow an exception for the appellate courts. Reflects the Judicial Council’s membership exception for the Standing Committee on Judicial Fairness and Accountability set forth in rule 1-205(1)(C).

CJA04-0202.04. Request to access a record associated with a case; request to classify a record associated with a case (AMEND). Clarifies that requesters denied access to non-public court records associated with a case that they are not authorized to access under rule 4-202.03 must file a motion or petition to access the record.

Judicial Council Order

Posted: November 21, 2022

Code of Judicial Administration – Effective January 1, 2023

CJA01-0204. Executive committees (AMEND). Creates court-level core teams and subcommittees of Policy, Planning, and Technology to assist the Committee in accomplishing its new technology responsibilities.

CJA04-0202.08. Fees for records, information, and services (AMEND). Allows the court to charge requesters for the first 15 minutes of personnel time. Changes “impecunious” to “indigent.” Indigent requesters are limited to one free copy of each record, after which they would be required to pay the standard rates. Exceptions can be made by the State Court Administrator. Removes references to outdated technology.

Judicial Council Order

Posted: November 21, 2022

Code of Judicial Administration – Effective November 21, 2022

CJA04-0202.02. Records classification (AMEND). Records previously designated as sealed by another court remain sealed in the record on appeal. Records may be unsealed by court order.

Judicial Council Order

Posted: November 8, 2022

Rules Governing the Utah State Bar – Effective November 7, 2022

USB14-0705.Admission by motion. Amended as of November 7, 2022, pursuant to UCJA Rule 11-105(5). The amendments restore reciprocity language to the rule.

Since the August 1, 2022 amendments, the Utah State Bar’s Office of Admissions has fielded several inquiries about whether an attorney who is primarily licensed and practicing in a non-reciprocal jurisdiction would now be eligible for admission by motion. These questions appear to arise from the deletion of a reciprocity provision in Rule 14-705. Removing reciprocity requirements was never the intention behind the August amendments. Rather, the intention was to simply recognize that the pandemic created opportunities for remote work. As such, these amendments clarify that a reciprocal admission applicant must have been engaged in the Full-time Practice of Law in the reciprocal jurisdiction, whether remotely or in-person, during the relevant time period.

Supreme Court Order

Posted: November 1, 2022

Rules of Civil Procedure – Effective November 1, 2022

URCP004. Process. Amend. A community member recognized the slight difference in the language of the rule and the language in the form summons as it relates to default judgments. Based upon the regular practice with default judgments the Committee proposed a change of the word “will” to “may” in subsection (c)(1)(E). The rule now reads a “judgment by default may be entered against the defendant.”

URCP043. Evidence. Amend. A proposal was made to change the language of the remote hearing oath outlined in subsection (c) to remove the language “issue (or matter) pending between ___ and ___” to be replaced by the word “matter.” Particularly for cases in juvenile court where the caption is “State of Utah in the interest of …” the language in the oath is more encompassing if read “evidence you shall give in this matter” when administering the oath.

URCP076. Notice of contact information change. Amend. After review of the rule and publishing for comment twice, the amendments include what information must be provided when contact information changes and to whom notice should be sent.

Supreme Court Order