Utah Court Rules – Approved – Page 32 – <p>The Supreme Court or Judicial Council has approved and adopted the following rules, which rules are effective on the date indicated. To view the newly adopted rules, click on any rule number.</p><p>Under circumstances described in CJA Rules 2-205 or 11-105, certain rules may have been adopted prior to a public comment period. The public is provided the opportunity to provide comment on those rules during the 45 days following the adoption of any such rule. To review and comment, click on the “LINKS” tab directly below. Then click on “Proposed Rule Amendments Published for Comment” to be taken to the page where links to rules subject to public comment are located.</p>

Posted: December 26, 2018

Rules of Professional Conduct – Effective December 19, 2018

RPC07.05. Firm Names and Letterheads. Amend. Comment [1] is amended to conform to current practice, which is to allow the inclusion of both retired and deceased partners’ names in firm names if there has been a continuing succession in the firm’s identity such that the firm name has become a trade name.

RPC08.04. Misconduct. Amend. Comment [1a] is amended in response to In re Discipline of Steffensen, 2018 UT 53, Footnote 7, to eliminate confusion as to what sanctions may be applicable for a violation of Rule 8.4. The comment now provides that an act of professional misconduct under Rule 8.4(b), (c), (d), (e), (f), (g), or (h) cannot be counted as a separate violation of Rule 8.4(a) for the purpose of determining sanctions. Conduct that violates other Rules of Professional Conduct, however, may be a violation of Rule 8.4(a) for the purpose of determining sanctions.

Supreme Court Order

Posted: December 19, 2018

Code of Judicial Administration – Effective January 1, 2019

CJA01-0205. Standing and Ad Hoc Committees.
AMEND – Adds a member of the Utah Indigent Defense Commission to the Utah Judicial Council’s Standing Committee on Pretrial Release and Supervision.
AMEND – Adds a court commissioner to the Utah Judicial Council Standing Committee on Court Forms.

CJA04-202.02. Records Classification.
AMEND – Classifies abstracts of juvenile court judgments filed in district court as “private” court records.

CJA04-508. Guidelines for Ruling on Motion to Waive Fees.
AMEND – Makes the Standing Committee on Court Forms responsible to approve the motion and affidavit to waive fees forms (previously the responsibility of the Board of District or Juvenile Court Judges).

CJA Appendix I. Summary of Classification of Court Records.
AMEND – Change classification of “Criminal Investigations” case type from “Protected” to “Public unless otherwise ordered.”

Judicial Council Order

Posted: November 28, 2018

Rules of Appellate Procedure – Effective December 1, 2018

URAP023B. The amendments to Rule 23B Motion for remand for findings necessary to determination of ineffective assistance of counsel claim, clarifies when a motion must be filed.

URAP025. The amendments to Rule 25 Brief of an amicus curiae or guardian ad litem, change a reference to Rule 50.

URAP050. The amendments to Rule 50, Response; reply; brief of amicus curiae, provide that a party may file a response to a petition and how the time for the response shall run. The amendment permits a party to file a letter in lieu of a formal response, deletes language regarding distribution of filings by the clerk, and establishes a time for filing a reply to a response.

URAP051. The amendment to Rule 51 Disposition of petition for writ of certiorari, deletes a reference to Rule 50.

Supreme Court Order

Posted: October 30, 2018

Code of Judicial Administration – Effective October 29, 2018

CJA11-0401. Standing Committee on Appellate Representation. Amend. Updates the definition of “legal defender’s office.” Effective October 29, 2018 pursuant to CJA Rule 11-105(5), expedited rulemaking.

Supreme Court Order

Posted: October 29, 2018

Code of Judicial Administration – Effective November 1, 2018

CJA03-0401. Office of General Counsel. Amend. Deletes certain unnecessary and outdated provisions. Removal of the language in lines 39-42 does not abdicate Judges’ responsibility to make their own decisions pursuant to the Code of Judicial Conduct.

CJA03-0414. Court Security. Amend. Allows the Court Security Director to possess a firearm and ammunition in a courthouse when qualified.

CJA04-0202.03. Records Access. Amend. Allows for access to certain records for Licensed Paralegal Practitioners. Allows access to juvenile court social records by entities or individuals providing services to juveniles.

CJA04-202.09. Miscellaneous. Amend. Adds specific requirements for records access requests for email correspondence. Corrects previous publication error regarding Tax-related Records and removal of language requiring certification of omitting / redacting all non-public information from the record.

CJA04-0403. Electronic Signature and Signature Stamp Use. Amend. Adds “orders appointing a court visitor” to the list of documents on which a clerk may use a judge’s signature stamp, with prior approval from a judge or commissioner.

CJA04-0701. Failure to Appear. Amend. Deletes the reference to failures to appear as a separate offense pursuant to S.B. 58, which eliminated the crime of failure to appear on a citation.

Judicial Council Order

Posted: October 4, 2018

Rules of Civil Procedure – Effective November 1, 2018

URCP073. Attorney Fees. Amend. An overwhelming number of cases filed in the courts, especially debt collection cases, result in the entry of an uncontested judgment. The work required in most cases to obtain an uncontested judgment does not typically depend on the amount at issue. The amendments eliminate the schedule of fees based on the amount of damages and replace it with a single fee upon entry of an uncontested judgment and a larger fee in contested cases. Where additional work is required to collect on the judgment, the amendments provide a default amount for writs and certain motions, and eliminate the “considerable additional efforts” limitation of the prior rule. The rule remains flexible so that when attorney fees exceed the scheduled amounts, a party remains free to file an affidavit requesting appropriate fees in accordance with the rule.

URCP073. Advisory Committee Notes.

Supreme Court Order

Posted: September 27, 2018