CJA03-0111 – Utah Court Rules – Published for Comment

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.

Posted: July 23, 2020

Code of Judicial Administration – Comment Period Extended to September 8, 2020

CJA03-0101. Judicial Performance Standards (AMEND)

CJA03-0104. Presiding Judges (AMEND)

CJA03-0111. Performance Evaluation of Senior Judges and Court Commissioners (AMEND)
The proposed amendments to Rules 3-101, 3-104, and 3-111 establish a definition for “submitted” for purposes of the case under advisement performance standard. The updates also provide discretion to the Council to excuse full compliance with the performance standards regarding cases under advisement and education hours for circumstances beyond the judge’s control, pursuant to Utah Code section 78A-2-223.

The comment period’s expiration is extended from July 25, 2020 to September 8, 2020. The original notice of comment period is found here.

Posted: June 10, 2020

Code of Judicial Administration – Comment Period Closed July 25, 2020

CJA03-0101. Judicial Performance Standards (AMEND)

CJA03-0104. Presiding Judges (AMEND)

CJA03-0111. Performance Evaluation of Senior Judges and Court Commissioners (AMEND)
The proposed amendments to Rules 3-101, 3-104, and 3-111 establish a definition for “submitted” for purposes of the case under advisement performance standard. The updates also provide discretion to the Council to excuse full compliance with the performance standards regarding cases under advisement and education hours for circumstances beyond the judge’s control, pursuant to Utah Code section 78A-2-223.

CJA06-0506. Procedure for Contested Matters Filed in the Probate Court (AMEND)
Change “may” to “will” in regard to scheduling a pre-mediation conference.

CJA03-0403. Judicial Branch Education (AMEND)

CJA09-0101. Board of Justice Court Judges (AMEND)

CJA09-0109. Presiding Judges (AMEND)
Proposed changes to Rules 9-101 and 9-109 provide an alternative to conducting elections for leadership positions in the justice courts when the justice court conference is canceled. The proposed change to 3-403 authorizes the Board of Justice Court Judges to excuse judges from that conference.

CJA04-0106. Electronic Conferencing (REPEAL)
Because remote hearing provisions exist in the rules of procedure, the proposal is to repeal CJA 4-106.

Posted: January 21, 2020

Code of Judicial Administration – Comment Period Closed March 6, 2020

CJA01-0204. Executive Committees (AMEND). The Judicial Council formalized a new executive committee, the Budget and Fiscal Management Committee. Proposed amendments add the Budget and Fiscal Management Committee to the executive committee list, and define the Committee’s duties.

CJA01-0205. Standing and Ad Hoc Committees (AMEND). The Judicial Council’s Standing Committee on the Online Court Assistance Program (OCAP) no longer exists. Proposed amendments remove the OCAP member positions from the Committee on Resources for Self-Represented Parties and the Committee on Court Forms.

CJA03-0111. Performance Evaluation of Active Senior Judges and Court Commissioners (AMEND). The reporting standards for active judges versus senior judges and commissioners were different. Utah Code 78A-2-223 sets a standard of two months for trial judges. For consistency, the proposed amendments change the standard for senior judges and commissioners from “60 days” to “two months.”

CJA03-0406. Budget and Fiscal Management (AMEND). The proposed amendments reflect the Judicial Council’s policy change regarding its budget process.

CJA04-0905. CJA 4-905. Restraint of Minors in Juvenile Court (AMEND). The proposed amendment eliminates the subsection of the referenced statute to avoid outdated citations in the future.

CJA010-1-0202. Verifying Use of Jury (AMEND). The Second District Court requested that local supplemental rule CJA 10-1-202 be repealed
because it is no longer needed. The Second District follows practices set forth in general rules observed by all other judicial districts.

CJA Appendix F. Utah State Court Records Retention Schedule. The first proposed amendment eliminates the requirement that the enhancement forms previously required under Rule 9-301 be retained permanently. Because Rule 9-301 was
repealed, those records should now be destroyed at the same time as the file to which the record pertains. Eliminating the specific reference in the schedule will default to that result.

The second proposed amendment changes the retention for domestic violence cases to ten years to reflect the change in statute that makes those offenses enhanceable for ten years.

Posted: November 20, 2018

Code of Judicial Administration – Comment Period Closed at noon on January 4, 2019

CJA01-0205. Standing and Ad Hoc Committees. AMEND – adds Court Security Director as a member of the Court Facility Planning Committee.

CJA02-0208. Publication and Distribution. AMEND – remove requirement that AOC and TCEs “maintain a copy of the CJA and make it available for inspection during business hours.”

CJA03-0103. Administrative Role of Judges. AMEND – assigns responsibilities to justice court presiding judges, to conform with district court counterparts.

CJA03-0104. Presiding Judges. AMEND – clarifies responsibilities of presiding judges to coordinate with presiding justice court judges regarding magistrate rotation.

CJA03-0106. Legislative Activities. AMEND – clarify options available to judicial council in response to legislative activities.

CJA03-0107. Executive Branch Policy Initiatives. AMEND – clarify options available to judicial council in response to executive initiatives.

CJA03-0111. Performance Evaluation of Senior Judges and Court Commissioners. AMEND – assigns responsibilities to justice court presiding judges, to conform with district court counterparts.

CJA03-0413. Judicial library resources. AMEND – revises rule to conform with current practice and removes outdated provisions that no longer conform to current practice.

CJA03-0501. Insurance Benefits Upon Retirement. AMEND – adds “parental leave” to the “sick day” calculation for purposes of determining post-retirement insurance benefits.

CJA04-0202.09. Miscellaneous. AMEND – removes the requirement for a party to label a filing as private, protected, controlled, juvenile social / juvenile legal, or safeguarded.

CJA04-0403. Electronic signature and signature stamp use. AMEND – authorizes use of judge signature stamp on writs of habeas corpus ad prosequendum / testificandum for transport of federal prisoners. Authorizes use of judge signature stamp on forthcoming / proposed Rule 109 (Domestic Relations Injunctions) orders.

CJA04-0405. Juror and Witness Fees and Expenses. AMEND – makes various revisions to align rule with current business practices at court and state level.

CJA04-0508. Guidelines for Ruling on a Motion to Waive Fees. AMEND – removes default requirement to provide documentation supporting affidavit of impecuniousity, authorizing judge to specifically request that such documentation be provided on a case by case basis.

Posted: January 31, 2018

Code of Judicial Administration – Comment Period Closed March 17, 2018

CJA03-0111 Performance evaluation of senior judges and court commissioners. Amend. 1) Clarifies when court commissioners’ annual evaluations will be completed, by whom, and what the evaluation process will entail; 2) establishes when the presiding judge will prepare a performance plan versus a corrective action plan for a court commissioner; 3) moves the Judicial Council’s certification process from August to July; and 4) replaces the active senior judge performance evaluation process in paragraph (1) with a new process in paragraph (3)(B). Amended (3)(B) provides that the surveys the Judicial Council collects from the trial court executives, the Court of Appeals Clerk of Court, the Justice Court Administrator, and the presiding judges on an active senior judge’s performance will be informed by anonymous questionnaires completed each time the senior judge completes an assignment. In the trial courts, court staff and jurors will complete the questionnaires, and in the Court of Appeals, the other judges on the panel to which the senior judge is assigned and the law clerks with whom the senior judge works will complete the questionnaires. This is the second request for comment due to the addition of the fourth category of amendments.

Posted: July 10, 2017

Code of Judicial Administration – Comment Period Closed August 24, 2017

CJA 03-111. Performance evaluation of senior judges and court commissioners. Amend. 1) Clarifies when court commissioners’ annual evaluations will be completed, by whom, what the evaluation process will entail; 2) establishes when the presiding judge will prepare a performance plan versus a corrective action plan for a court commissioner; and 3) moves the Judicial Council’s certification process from August to July.

CJA 03-201. Court commissioners. Amend. Clarifies 1) how the districts and court levels that a commissioner will serve will be represented on the court commissioner nominating committee; 2) how a commissioner is selected if they will serve more than one judicial district or court level; 3) that the commissioner certification process addresses retention, not removal; 4) that when a commissioner serves two districts or court levels, the presiding judges will each prepare performance evaluations and performance plans; and 5) how the commissioner public comment period results are reviewed and used.

Posted: October 28, 2014

Code of Judicial Administration

CJA 01-0205. Standing and ad hoc committees. Amend. Makes the Committee on Model Utah Civil Jury Instructions and the Committee on Model Utah Criminal Jury Instructions standing committees of the Judicial Council. Outlines the membership makeup of each committee. Makes technical corrections. Effective October 27, 2014 under rule 2-205 of the Utah Code of Judicial Administration. Subject to change after the comment period.
CJA 03-0111. Performance evaluation of senior judges and court commissioners. Amend. Requires senior judges in the district, juvenile and justice courts to undergo a performance evaluation annually. Requires senior judges in the appellate court to undergo a performance evaluation every 3 years. Changes the evaluation criteria to more closely match the JPEC criteria.
CJA 11-0101. Creation and Composition of Advisory Committees. Amend. Provides for appointment of mid-term committee vacancies in the same manner as an end-of-term vacancy. Changes the circumstances for reappointment for more than two terms.

Posted: June 24, 2014

Code of Judicial Administration

CJA 03-0111. Performance evaluation of senior judges and court commissioners. Amend. Requires a presiding judge to evaluate a senior judge’s performance every 18 months after the first term and a commissioner’s performance annually. Changes the evaluation criteria to more closely match the JPEC criteria.
CJA 03-0201. Court commissioners. Amend. Requires a court commissioner to undergo a performance evaluation annually.
CJA 04-0405. Juror and witness fees and expenses. Amend. Makes an attorney issuing the subpoena responsible for reimbursing a civil witness for necessary and reasonable parking expenses as required by statute.
CJA 04-0907. Divorce education and divorce orientation courses. Amend. Provides an option to take the divorce orientation course online, and reflects changes to the fees for the course as required by statute.
CJA 11-0201. Senior judges. Amend. Establishes a residency requirement. Requires a senior judge to undergo a performance evaluation every 18 months after a first term.
CJA 11-0203. Senior justice court judges. Amend. Establishes a residency requirement. Requires a senior justic court judge to undergo a performance evaluation every 18 months after a first term.

Posted: November 23, 2010

Code of Judicial Administration

CJA 01-0205. Standing and ad hoc committees. Amend. Eliminates the Judicial Performance Evaluation Committee. Exempts the Guardian ad Litem Oversight Committee from sunset review.
CJA 02-0106.01. Goals of performance evaluation for judicial self improvement. Repeal. Self-improvement goals for commissioners and senior judges will be governed by Rule 3-111.
CJA 02-0106.02. Criteria for judicial self improvement. Repeal. Self-improvement goals for commissioners and senior judges will be governed by Rule 3-111.
CJA 02-0106.03. Information for judicial self improvement. Repeal. Self-improvement goals for commissioners and senior judges will be governed by Rule 3-111.
CJA 02-0106.04. Self improvement process. Repeal. Self-improvement goals for commissioners and senior judges will be governed by Rule 3-111.
CJA 02-0106.05. Administration of the performance evaluation program for judicial self improvement. Repeal. Self-improvement goals for commissioners and senior judges will be governed by Rule 3-111.
CJA 03-0111. Performance evaluation of senior judges and court commissioners. New. Combines Rules 3-111.01 through 3-111.04 into one rule, describing the evaluation program applicable to senior judges and court commissioners.
CJA 03-0111.01 Goals of performance evaluation for certification for retention election. Consolidate into Rule 3-111 and Repeal.
CJA 03-0111.02 Judicial performance evaluation criteria. Consolidate into Rule 3-111 and Repeal.
CJA 03-0111.03 Standards of judicial performance. Consolidate into Rule 3-111 and Repeal.
CJA 03-0111.04 Evaluation and certification of judges and commissioners. Consolidate into Rule 3-111 and Repeal.
CJA 03-0111.05. Evaluation and certification of senior judges. Repeal.
CJA 03-0111.06. Administration of the judicial performance evaluation and certification program. Repeal.
CJA 03-0201. Court commissioners. Amend. Provides for uniform end of term of December 31.
CJA 03-0306. Court interpreters. Amend. Expand interpreter program to the remaining balance of the court’s casetypes.
CJA 04-0202.02. Records classification. Amend. Classify as private performance evaluation information from senior judges and court commissioners.
CJA 04-0601. Selection of indigent aggravated murder defense fund counsel. New. Establishes the process to be used to select pre-contracted attorneys from the roster maintained by the Indigent Defense Funds Board in aggravated murder cases.
CJA 06-0402. Records in domestic relations cases. New. Defines the records required for motions for temporary relief, alimony, child support, and child custody.