Utah Court Rules – Approved – Page 9 – <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 20, 2022

Code of Judicial Administration – Effective December 19, 2022

Amendments clarify that attorneys and licensed paralegal practitioners must file cases electronically and allow self-represented litigants to file by email.

CJA04-0503. Mandatory electronic filing in civil and probate cases (AMEND)

CJA04-0603. Mandatory electronic filing in criminal cases (AMEND)

CJA04-0801. Filing small claims cases (AMEND)

CJA04-0901. Mandatory electronic filing in juvenile court (AMEND)

CJA09-0302. Mandatory electronic filing in justice court (AMEND)

Judicial Council Order

Posted: December 12, 2022

Rules Governing the Utah State Bar – Effective December 9, 2022

USB14-0701. Definitions. Amended as of December 9, 2022, pursuant to UCJA Rule 11-105(5). The amendments add as a defined term “UBE Transfer Applicant.”

USB14-0809. Practice Pending Admission. Amended as of December 9, 2022, pursuant to UCJA Rule 11-105(5).The amendments add UBE Transfer Applicants to the list of applicants that may practice while their admissions application is pending.

Supreme Court Order

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

Posted: October 31, 2022

Supreme Court Rules of Professional Practice – Effective November 1, 2022

CJA11-0581. Sanctions. The amendments clarify that if a lawyer is placed on probation the status of probation is public, but the terms of their probation may be private.

CJA11-0582. Factors to be considered in imposing sanctions. The amendments to Rule 11-582: (1) requires the factfinder to consider the presumptive sanctions set forth in the rules, along with any mitigating and aggravating factors; and (2) adds a section to provide guidance when multiple instances of misconduct are found.

CJA11-0583. Imposition of sanctions. The amendment to Rule 11-583 repeals existing rule 11-583 addressing appropriate sanctions and replaces it with four new rules (rules 11-583 through 11-586) that set forth presumptive sanctions based on the nature of the duty violated.

CJA11-0584. Presumptive sanctions for violating duties owed to the public. The new rule provides presumptive sanctions to be imposed upon finding that the lawyer failed to maintain personal integrity, generally, by committing a criminal act. Additionally, this new rule provides presumptive sanctions for violations of Rule 3.8, Special responsibilities of a prosecutor.

CJA11-0585. Presumptive sanctions for violating duties owed to the legal system. The new rule provides presumptive sanctions to be imposed upon finding that the lawyer has engaged in conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice. This rule relates to deceit, fraud, misrepresentation, improper communication with individuals in the legal system, and abuse of the legal process.

CJA11-0586. Presumptive sanctions for violating duties owed as a member of the legal profession. The new rule provides presumptive sanctions to be imposed upon finding that the lawyer has engaged in conduct involving misleading communications about a lawyer or a lawyer’s services, unreasonable or improper fees, unauthorized practice of law, failure to report professional misconduct, and failure to respond to a lawful request from disciplinary authority.

Supreme Court Order for Rules 11-581 and 11-582

Supreme Court Order for Rule 11-583

Supreme Court Order for Rules 11-584, 11-585, and 11-586

Posted: October 13, 2022

Rules of Juvenile Procedure – Effective October 12, 2022

URJP025A. Withdrawal of plea. Amends. Removes subsections (a) and (b)(1) because they are substantive rules that are provided for in Utah Code section 80-6-306. Amends subsection (b)(2) to mirror Utah Code section 80-6-306, and removes the heading number (b)(2). Effective October 12, 2022.

Supreme Court Order

Posted: October 13, 2022

Rules of Criminal Procedure – Effective October 12, 2022

URCrP016. Discovery. AMEND. Rule 16 is amended to incorporate an updated reference to Rule 26(b)(6) of the Rules of Civil Procedure, which was modified and became effective May 4th, 2022.

Supreme Court Order