180 results for 'court:"Utah Court Of Appeals"'.
J. Mortensen finds that the trial court properly rejected a property owner's trespass and quiet title claims over its neighbor's use of a road. No issues of fact precluded summary judgment on the owner's challenge to the neighbor's implied easement claim. A unity of title was followed by obvious severance, the neighbor needed the road to supply its manufacturing business and the neighbor's use of the road was continous. Affirmed.
Court: Utah Court Of Appeals, Judge: Mortensen, Filed On: May 16, 2024, Case #: 20220785-CA, Categories: Property
J. Harris finds that defendant is entitled to a new trial on a murder charge because counsel should have more thoroughly investigated the state's DNA evidence. Counsel should have requested the state's underlying DNA files and it should have retained an expert to help interpret the files. The failures resulted in prejudice since it was possible that he could have been excluded as the person whose DNA was found on a cigarette butt that became key to his conviction. Reversed.
Court: Utah Court Of Appeals, Judge: Harris, Filed On: May 16, 2024, Case #: 20200091-CA, Categories: Dna, Ineffective Assistance, Murder
J. Oliver finds that counsel was ineffective for failing to move for a directed verdict after the state presented insufficient evidence that defendant tried to flee a state park ranger for the purpose of avoiding arrest. No evidence was presented on the essential element that he intended to avoid arrest, only that he tried to avoid a citation for kayaking without a life jacket. Counsel's failure to seek a directed verdict amounted to prejudice that requires a new trial. Reversed.
Court: Utah Court Of Appeals, Judge: Oliver, Filed On: May 16, 2024, Case #: 20230259-CA, Categories: Ineffective Assistance, Resisting Arrest
J. Tenney finds that police lacked reasonable suspicion for a traffic stop during which drugs were found. The officer testified that he did not see any traffic violations but stopped defendant because he had recently been stopped for driving without a license. However, the officer did not have any new information about his license status and the months-old citation did not give police reasonable suspicion to detain him. Reversed.
Court: Utah Court Of Appeals, Judge: Tenney, Filed On: May 9, 2024, Case #: 20220313-CA, Categories: Drug Offender, Search
J. Mortensen finds that the trial court properly denied a phone book publisher's motion for judgment as a matter of law because of ambiguity in the terms of a contract with a plumber for a phone book listing. Extrinsic evidence was properly admitted to resolve the ambiguities. And attorney fees to the plumber were supported by its success in defending the contract claim. Affirmed.
Court: Utah Court Of Appeals, Judge: Mortensen, Filed On: May 9, 2024, Case #: 20220339-CA, Categories: Evidence, Attorney Fees, Contract
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J. Luthy finds that the trial court erred in dismissing a victim's sexual assault complaint as time-barred. The statute of limitations was tolled during the time that the victim was deemed incompetent, even after she had been appointed a legal guardian. The victim's tolling argument on appeal is different than the one she made at trial, but it was preserved since she did not present an entirely new issue. Also, neither side, nor the trial court, recognized controlling law so defendant's invited error claim also fails. Reversed.
Court: Utah Court Of Appeals, Judge: Luthy, Filed On: May 9, 2024, Case #: 20220315-CA, Categories: Assault, Competence
J. Christiansen Forster upholds the Utah Procurement Policy Board's conclusion that a bid for a five-year contract to provide drug and alcohol testing for the child and family services division was unresponsive. The Board was not unreasonable or incorrect, having adequately reviewed the record and considered the bidder's arguments. Substantial evidence that the bidder offered fewer collection sites and fewer qualified staff available to testify in court cases supported the rejection. Affirmed.
Court: Utah Court Of Appeals, Judge: Christiansen Forster, Filed On: May 9, 2024, Case #: 20220388-CA, Categories: Government, Contract
J. Harris finds that the trial court properly awarded damages and attorney fees to a food distributor, and rejected a food supplier's motion for a new trial in a dispute over invoices for tortillas. The supplier claimed an inconsistent verdict but breach of contract and the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing are independent causes of action so the jury could find bad faith without finding a breach of terms. And a jury could reasonably award damages based on the bad faith claim after finding that the elements of a contract claim aside from damages had not been met. Affirmed.
Court: Utah Court Of Appeals, Judge: Harris, Filed On: May 9, 2024, Case #: 20220982-CA, Categories: Damages, Attorney Fees, Contract
J. Tenney finds that the trial court properly ordered an ex-husband to reimburse an ex-wife the money she paid to satisfy a mortgage loan their divorce decree had required him to pay. The order to reimburse was an enforcement ruling, not a modification, since it gave effect to the decree's requirement that he be responsible for any loans on the residence. Affirmed.
Court: Utah Court Of Appeals, Judge: Tenney, Filed On: May 9, 2024, Case #: 20210902-CA, Categories: Civil Procedure, Family Law
J. Luthy finds that the trial court properly refused to suppress incriminating statements defendant made to police during an interrogation about a murder. Police gave him a Miranda warning at the outset and were not required to give another warning after a five-hour break, and the physical evidence was so overwhelming that suppression would not have changed the guilty verdict. Also, no evidence showed that defendant's son faced imminent harm that would justify self defense, or that defendant's delusions of risk related to any imminent danger. Affirmed.
Court: Utah Court Of Appeals, Judge: Luthy, Filed On: May 9, 2024, Case #: 20210849-CA, Categories: Miranda, Murder, Self Defense
J. Oliver finds that the trial court properly terminated a father's parental rights, and he failed to show the ruling was because counsel had been ineffective. He never provided a home for his daughter or had custody prior to her mother's death, and he did not follow court orders to develop a relationship with her. Affirmed.
Court: Utah Court Of Appeals, Judge: Oliver, Filed On: May 2, 2024, Case #: 20230486-CA, Categories: Family Law
J. Harris finds that the trial court erred in denying defendant's motion to dismiss charges that he sexually abused a child 25 years earlier. The four-year statute of limitations that applied at the time of the alleged offenses began to run in 1998 when the alleged victim's friend reported to police that defendant had been "having sex" with the alleged victim. In the context of the friend's report, "having sex" meant vaginal intercourse and was sufficient to put police on notice of a crime that could be charged. Reversed.
Court: Utah Court Of Appeals, Judge: Harris, Filed On: May 2, 2024, Case #: 20230228-CA, Categories: Criminal Procedure, Sex Offender
J. Tenney holds that a company's former COO failed to preserve his challenge to the damages the trial court awarded after finding the company had violated securities law by misrepresenting stock options it had offered him as compensation. He was awarded damages based on the difference between value of his labor and his undercompensation in salary. He failed to argue at trial that he should have been awarded a value equal to the options' strike price multiplied by the number of shares offered. Affirmed.
Court: Utah Court Of Appeals, Judge: Tenney, Filed On: May 2, 2024, Case #: 20220733-CA, Categories: Employment, Securities, Damages
J. Oliver finds that defendant's behavior was not required to hold a sua sponte hearing to evaluate defendant's competence to stand trial for sexual abuse of a child. His remarks about his medical conditions did not require a hearing, and counsel assured the trial court that he comprehended events and could aid in his defense. Also, counsel was not deficient for seeking testimony about the victim's truthfulness since defendant admitted to the abuse in recorded interviews. Affirmed.
Court: Utah Court Of Appeals, Judge: Oliver, Filed On: May 2, 2024, Case #: 20220407-CA, Categories: Competence, Ineffective Assistance, Sex Offender
J. Mortensen finds that the trial court properly rejected claims for access to a road across a ranch property and quieted title in favor of the ranch. The road was not public under the dedication statute since only a small subset of the public ever had access, and they actively tried to prevent other members of the public from using it. And no convincing evidence showed a historical public use. A prescriptive easement argument also failed because the adverse mental state was belied by requests for keys and permission to access the road. Affirmed.
Court: Utah Court Of Appeals, Judge: Mortensen, Filed On: April 25, 2024, Case #: 20220432-CA, Categories: Property
J. Luthy finds that the trial court properly imposed probation conditions on defendant for sex offenses he committed as a minor. He argued that since statute does not require sex offender registration for defendants whose offenses were committed as minors, it was error to impose the same restrictions on him as conditions of probation. But statute does not bar the imposition of sex offender conditions during the limited period of probation. However, the requirement to provide a DNA specimen was error since it is an express component of the requirement to register as a sex offender. Reversed in part.
Court: Utah Court Of Appeals, Judge: Luthy, Filed On: April 25, 2024, Case #: 20230194-CA, Categories: Dna, Probation, Sex Offender
J. Mortensen finds that the trial court properly tossed a claim that road conditions at a railroad grade crossing caused an injury accident when a Jeep full of teenagers tried to jump the tracks. The railroad did not have a duty to change the steepness of the road, the county is immune since improving the road would be discretionary, no evidence showed that potholes caused the accident, an attractive nuisance claim failed because the driver and injured passenger are held to an adult standard of care as licensed drivers, and the city had only recently annexed the land and had not been made aware that a utility pole might be too close to the road. Affirmed.
Court: Utah Court Of Appeals, Judge: Mortensen, Filed On: April 18, 2024, Case #: 20220139-CA, Categories: Immunity, Negligence
J. Harris finds that sufficient evidence supported defendant's possession conviction for methamphetamine found in the purse of the passenger in his car. His constructive possession was established by evidence he was driving her to score methamphetamine, he had used some of the methamphetamine, his suspended driver's license had been used to chop a chunk of methamphetamine, he drove evasively when he saw police, the methamphetamine was within his reach, and text messages showed he was going sell methamphetamine when they got home. Affirmed.
Court: Utah Court Of Appeals, Judge: Harris, Filed On: April 18, 2024, Case #: 20220390-CA, Categories: Drug Offender
J. Mortensen finds that the trial court improperly dismissed a customer's discrimination claim against a Burger King franchise owner. Respondeat superior vicarious liability applies to the Civil Rights Act and a jury must determine whether a shift supervisor was acting within the scope of her employment when she used racial epithets and enlisted a friend to assault the customer. Reversed.
Court: Utah Court Of Appeals, Judge: Mortensen, Filed On: April 18, 2024, Case #: 20221003-CA, Categories: Civil Rights, Tort
J. Tenney holds that a city's challenge to a trial court easement decision is moot. The city failed to request a stay of the grant of an easement access to a city street pending appeal, during which time the property owner spent money to create a curb-cut, pour concrete and install gates.
Court: Utah Court Of Appeals, Judge: Tenney, Filed On: April 11, 2024, Case #: 20220586-CA, Categories: Property
J. Christiansen Forster holds that the district court erred in concluding that a dispute over water district impact fees posed exceptional conditions requiring the appointment of a special master. The trial judge's pending retirement, the long duration of the case, Covid-19 calendar backups and a desire for relaxed rules of procedure and evidence do not warrant a special master. Furthermore, any legal complexity presented by the case will require district court determinations anyway. Reversed.
Court: Utah Court Of Appeals, Judge: Christiansen Forster, Filed On: April 11, 2024, Case #: 20220403-CA, Categories: Civil Procedure, Property
J. Orme finds that the district court properly upheld a city's denial of a retail tobacco specialty business license. The legislature delegated licensing authority to the city and statute forbids the operation of a retail tobacco specialty business without a license. Affirmed.
Court: Utah Court Of Appeals, Judge: Orme, Filed On: April 11, 2024, Case #: 20220101-CA, Categories: Municipal Law, Zoning
J. Harris finds the trial court improperly sanctioned a father for failing to timely disclose a tax return before a child support modification trial. The trial court could have prohibited his use of the tax return in modification proceedings, but went too far in barring him from introducing other income evidence or a rebuttal to the mother's evidence. Vacated.
Court: Utah Court Of Appeals, Judge: Harris, Filed On: April 11, 2024, Case #: 20220534-CA, Categories: Family Law, Sanctions, Discovery
J. Tenney finds that sufficient evidence supported a trial court ruling that a mother was neglectful for taking photos of her nine-year-old daughter's genitals for "documentation" purposes before and after the child had visitation with her father. The photos, which were not taken to document visible trauma, might have desensitized the child to the importance of safeguarding one's genitals and made the child suspicious of her father. Affirmed.
Court: Utah Court Of Appeals, Judge: Tenney, Filed On: April 11, 2024, Case #: 20230338-CA, Categories: Family Law
J. Orme holds that the trial court used the wrong legal standard in awarding a mother sole legal custody, and an attorney fee award was also error. The trial court must consider all statutory custody factors to some degree, and cannot disregard some as discretionary. The trial court must also revisit its imputation of the mother's income, which was speculative, and its fee award to the mother failed to distinguish the applicable legal standards or establish findings about the father's ability to pay. Reversed.
Court: Utah Court Of Appeals, Judge: Orme, Filed On: April 11, 2024, Case #: 20210637-CA, Categories: Family Law, Attorney Fees
J. Tenney finds that counsel was not ineffective for deciding not to object to prior acts evidence in defendant's aggravated assault trial. The state made narrow use of probative evidence about similar instances where defendant was aggressive when he suspected his wife was unfaithful. And he failed to show he was prejudiced by counsel's decision not to object to other evidence. Affirmed.
Court: Utah Court Of Appeals, Judge: Tenney, Filed On: April 4, 2024, Case #: 20210774-CA, Categories: Ineffective Assistance, Assault
[Consolidated.] J. Harris holds that the juvenile court properly ordered children removed from their parents based on finding that they were neglected, and their counsel was not ineffective during proceedings. However, the juvenile court must revisit its shelter hearing analysis to determine whether services are currently available to end removal.
Court: Utah Court Of Appeals, Judge: Harris, Filed On: April 4, 2024, Case #: 20230102-CA, Categories: Family Law
J. Christiansen Forster finds that the district court properly adjusted the $100 monthly restitution payments defendant was making toward a $50,000 total. The new $1,100 monthly payments, which were based on an updated financial declaration, changed only the payment schedule, not the underlying restitution order or the original sentence, so statute, double jeopardy or due process rights were not violated. Affirmed.
Court: Utah Court Of Appeals, Judge: Christiansen Forster, Filed On: April 4, 2024, Case #: 20230253-CA, Categories: Fraud, Restitution, Securities
J. Oliver finds that the trial court should have dismissed felony aggravated assault charges against defendant for a domestic violence incident with his brother-in-law on double jeopardy grounds. After the first day of trial the initial judge realized he was defendant's distant relative through marriage, so the presiding judge of the district recused him. The initial judge then discharged the jury and declared a mistrial. But since the initial judge had been disqualified, and he failed to provide the parties an opportunity to object to jury discharge as required under the legal necessity exception to double jeopardy, those acts were taken without authority and the mistrial functioned as an acquittal. Where a judge is disqualified after a trial has begun, either the reviewing judge or the newly assigned judge must first address whether to declare a mistrial and then decide whether the discharge the jury. Reversed.
Court: Utah Court Of Appeals, Judge: Oliver, Filed On: April 4, 2024, Case #: 20221076-CA, Categories: Criminal Procedure, Double Jeopardy, Domestic Violence