Posted: November 26, 2013
Rules of Appellate Procedure
URAP 003. Appeal as of right: how taken. Amend. Provides that service of the notice of appeal shall be done in accordance with the service requirements of the court from which the appeal is taken.
URAP 008A. Motion for emergency relief. Renumber and amend. Renumbers rule 8A to rule 23C. Provides that a motion for emergency relief is not sufficient to invoke the court’s jurisdiction, and that a jurisdictional petition must be filed or no emergency relief will be granted.
WHY MAKE THE RULES SO COMPLICATED AND COMPLEX FOR TRUE EMERGENCY SITUATIONS? RULE 8A, RENUMBERED OR OTHERWISE, SHOULD BE DESIGNED TO ACCOMODATE THE NEED FOR EMERGENCY RELIF WITHOUT THE JURISDICTIONAL DEBATE AND NEED FOR SOME OTHER FILING. WHY NOT USE RULE 8A TO INVOKE JURISDICTION:
“There may be circumstances where limited provisional forms of relief (e.g., an emergency stay to preserve the status quo) can be obtained prior to the formal invocation of appellate jurisdiction,1 but rule 8A cannot be employed to independently invoke that jurisdiction.” Snow, Christensen & Martineau, 2009 UT 72, ¶ 6.
“[W]e determine that we lack jurisdiction to take further action on the rule 8A petition because no invocation of our jurisdiction was accomplished by a separate pleading.” ¶8.
A good change to the Rules. Please consider providing that service of briefs, etc., may be by electronic transmission.
This is a conspicuous attempt to deprive rights by complicating the process, and it is in defiance of this state’s parens patriae burden to protect children. If this passes, I will personally track how much money GALs make from this, and how helpful they are to parents who try to file these in the interests of children they supposedly represent.