Posted: May 28, 2024
Supreme Court Rules of Professional Practice – Comment Period Closes July 12, 2024
The purpose of these new rules is to align the governance structure of the Office of Legal Services Innovation and Legal Services Innovation Committee with the rule-based governance structures the Supreme Court uses to manage the Utah State Bar, Board of Mandatory Continuing Legal Education, and the Office of Professional Conduct. These new chapters do not amend or alter any existing practices or authorizations.
LSI11-0701.New. Legal Services Innovation Purpose
LSI11-0702.New. Legal Services Innovation Committee Composition
LSI11-0703.New. Disclosure, Recusal, Disqualification
LSI11-0704.New. Legal Services Innovation Office and Committee Powers
LSI11-0705.New. Entity Data
LSI11-0706.New. Non-traditional Legal Service Provides Assisting Clients in Court
Posted: May 21, 2024
Rules of Criminal Procedure – Comment Period Closes July 5, 2024
URCrP009A. Amend. The Utah Supreme Court’s Advisory Committee on the Rules of Criminal Procedure recently amended Rule 9A to include procedures related to defendants in custody on a bench warrant based on a failure to appear for a court proceeding. Once notified that a defendant has been arrested on a bench warrant, a court must set a bench hearing date following the defendant’s arrest. The amended Rule provides the timeframe in which the court must first schedule the bench hearing and the timeframe in which the court must hold the bench hearing. The Rule is approved for a 45-day public comment period.
Posted: May 21, 2024
Notice of Proposed Amendments to Utah Supreme Court’s Advisory Committee Rules – Comment Period Closes July 5, 2024
The Utah Supreme Court invites comments to the following proposed new rules. The comment period will close on July 5, 2024. The proposed rules identify factors judges should consider when setting in-person, remote, and hybrid hearings. The proposed rules also specify how hearing participants may request to appear in a manner opposite of the initial court setting. Finally, the proposed rules provide factors judges should consider in approving or denying a participant’s request.
URCP087. New. In-person, remote, and hybrid hearings; requests for accommodation.
URCrP017.05. New. In-person, remote, and hybrid hearings; requests for accommodation.
URJP061. New. In-person, remote, and hybrid hearings; requests for accommodation.
Posted: May 16, 2024
Rules of Juvenile Procedure – Comment Period Closed June 30, 2024
URJP019C.Amend. Regarding motions on the justification of the use of force, the proposed amendment to Rule 19C specifically adopts Rule 12(c)(3) of the Rules of Criminal Procedure. This amendment intends to clarify the relationship between statute, the Rules of Criminal Procedure, and the Rules of Juvenile Procedure as outlined in Rule 2 of the Rules of Juvenile Procedure.
Posted: May 15, 2024
Code of Judicial Administration – Comment Period Closes June 29, 2024
CJA04-0601. Selection of indigent aggravated murder and defense fund counsel (REPEAL)
Under Senate Bill 160, effective May 1, 2024, the Office of Indigent Defense Services will be responsible for administering the Indigent Aggravated Murder Defense Fund and assigning an indigent defense service provider to represent individuals prosecuted for aggravated murder. As such, rule 4-601 has been repealed.
CJA02-0212. Communication with the Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel (AMEND)
House Bill 344, effective May 1, 2024, combines the legislature’s “Judicial Rules Review Committee” and “Administrative Rules Review and General Oversight Committee” into one committee called the “Rules Review and General Oversight Committee.” The amendments bring the rule in line with new reporting requirements in the bill.
CJA04-0907. Divorce education and divorce orientation course (AMEND)
Under House Bill 337, effective May 1, 2024, the Judicial Council must provide a separate mandatory parenting course “for unmarried parties in a parentage action determining issues of child custody and parent-time.” Until the unmarried parties course is available, unmarried parties must attend the married parents course.
Posted: May 15, 2024
Code of Judicial Administration – Comment Period Closes June 29, 2024
CJA01-0204.Executive committees (AMEND)
Amends membership on the Technology Advisory Subcommittee (TAC). A representative from the Office of General Counsel would replace the Policy, Planning, and Technology Committee member and a member of the Judicial Data and Research department would be added to each of the technology core teams.
CJA01-0205. Standing and ad hoc committees (AMEND)
Eliminates the General Counsel member position on both the Pretrial and WINGS committees.
CJA04-0202.01. Definitions (AMEND)
Clarifies that calendars are not “records.”
CJA04-0202.08. Fees for records, information, and services (AMEND)
Grants clerks of court the authority to waive the one free copy limit for court records associated with a case.
CJA04-0206. Exhibits (AMEND)
Provides exhibit managers with much-needed clarity and guidance on how to manage exhibits in criminal, post-conviction, and appellate actions.
Posted: April 26, 2024
Rules of Juvenile Procedure – Comment Period Closed June 10, 2024
URJP005.Definitions. Amend. Rule 5 is being amended to remove the definition of “adjudication.” Senate Bill 88 of the 2024 Legislative Session amends the definition of “adjudication” as found in Utah Code section 80-1-102. “Adjudication” as defined in statute is also a better fit for the Rules of Juvenile Procedure. As a result of the removal of “adjudication,” the remaining paragraphs are renumbered.
URJP013A.Limited-purpose intervention. New. In response to In re J.T., 2023 UT App 157, Rule 13A guides intervention in the juvenile court.
URJP015.Preliminary inquiry; informal adjustment without petition. Amend. The proposed revision to Rule 15 amends paragraph (f) to refer to statute as the guiding criteria for non-judicial extensions. Additional grammatical and stylistic changes were also made for clarity.
URJP022.Initial appearance and preliminary hearing in cases under Utah Code sections 80-6-503 and 80-6-504. Amend. House Joint Resolution 13 of the 2024 Legislative Session made changes to Rule 7B of the Rules of Criminal Procedure related to hearsay. Paragraph (k) of Rule 22 is amended to mirror those changes. Paragraph (k) is further amended to provide clearer direction regarding the raising of objections at the preliminary hearing. Additional grammatical and stylistic changes were also made for clarity.
URJP031.Initiation of truancy proceedings. Repeal. It is proposed that Rule 31 be repealed based on amendments to statute brought by House Bill 362 of the 2024 Legislative Session. Habitual truancy may be referred to the juvenile court for a non-judicial adjustment, but it may not be petitioned.
Posted: April 25, 2024
Utah Rules of Business and Chancery Court Procedure – Comment Period Closed June 9, 2024
NEW Rules of Business and Chancery Court Procedure – These rules were drafted using the Utah Rules of Civil Procedure as their base line. Thus, the Committee determined that the Rules of Civil Procedure were adequate for the Business and Chancery Court, these rules simply incorporate them by reference rather than repeat the identical language. For example, although these rules include significant modifications to Utah Rule of Civil Procedure 26, necessitating a distinct Rule 26 for the Business and Chancery Court, the Committee concluded that Utah Rule of Civil Procedure 37, including its mechanisms for enforcing the parties’ discovery obligations under Rule 26, could be adopted into these rules without modification and is therefore incorporated by reference. The Rules of Civil Procedure that do not apply in Business and Chancery Court are explicitly excluded by reference in Appendix A.
URBCP001.NEW — General provisions.
URBCP008.NEW — General rules of pleadings.
URBCP010.NEW — Form of pleadings and other papers.
URBCP013.NEW — Counterclaim and crossclaim.
URBCP014.NEW— Third-party practice.
URBCP016.NEW— Pretrial conferences.
URBCP018.NEW— Joinder of claims and remedies.
URBCP019.NEW— Joinder of persons needed for just adjudication.
URBCP020.NEW— Permissive joinder of parties.
URBCP022.NEW — Interpleader.
URBCP024.NEW— Intervention.
URBCP026.NEW — General provisions governing disclosure and discovery.
URBCP038.NEW— Jury trial of right.
URBCP042.NEW — Consolidation and separate trials.
URBCP063.NEW — Disability or disqualification of a judge.
URBCP065A.NEW— Injunctions.
URBCP065B.NEW — Extraordinary relief.
URBCP077.NEW — Business and chancery court; clerks.
URBCP085.NEW— Title.
URBCP086.NEW — Licensed paralegal practitioners.
Appendix A Rules of Civil Procedure excluded from Rules of Business and Chancery Court Procedure
Posted: April 2, 2024
Rules of Juvenile Procedure – Comment Period Closed
URJP050. Presence at hearings. Amend. The proposed amendments to Rule 50 include: (1) a correction to referenced statute in paragraph (a); (2) replacing “court” and “courtroom” with “hearing” in paragraph (d), allowing the court to exclude a person from a hearing, including a remote hearing; and (3) stylistic and grammatical changes.
Posted: March 11, 2024
Code of Judicial Administration – Comment Period Closed
CJA01-0305. Board of senior judges. Amend. The proposed amendments (1) expand membership on the Board to include senior justice court judges, and (2) revise the term lengths and number of meetings of the Board.
CJA03-0104. Presiding judges. Amend. The proposed amendments remove the requirement to send notice of a senior judge assignment to the State Court Administrator.
CJA03-0108. Judicial assistance. Amend. The proposed amendments (1) add water law cases to the criteria for transferring or assigning senior judges, and (2) clarify and simplify considerations for assigning senior judges.
CJA03-0111. Performance evaluations. Amend. The proposed amendments remove references to senior judges, as the processes for evaluating senior judge performance have been incorporated into Rule 11-201.
CJA03-0113. Senior judges. Amend. The proposed amendments (1) require the AOC to provide a new senior judge orientation, and (2) expand the responsibilities of court executives in providing support for senior judges.
CJA03-0403. Judicial branch education. Amend. The proposed amendments (1) clarify that “annually” refers to the fiscal year, and (2) revise and simplify education requirements for active and inactive senior judges.
CJA03-0501. Insurance benefits upon retirement. Amend. The proposed amendments revise qualifications for incentive benefits.
CJA011-0201. Senior Judges. Amend.
CJA11-0203. Senior Justice Court Judges. Amend.
The proposed amendments to Rules 11-201 and 11-203: (1) clarify and revise qualifications for appointment of senior judges, (2) establish qualifications and process for reappointment of senior judges, (3) establish and revise standards and processes for performance evaluation of senior judges, (4) clarify the role of the Judicial Council in the appointment and reappointment of senior judges, (5) revise the terms of office and authority of senior judges, and (6) include general cleanup for clarity and consistency.