180 results for 'court:"Utah Court Of Appeals"'.
J. Mortensen finds that the district court erred in concluding that a homeowners' association improperly delayed its evaluation of a homeowner's request to keep eight backyard "comfort chickens" for a child with PTSD and anxiety. The HOA properly and timely engaged the homeowner about the requested accommodation, taking a few weeks to evaluate the related issues of runoff, odor, rodents and the novel use of chickens as emotional support animals before granting a variance for two hens. Also, the homeowner failed to show any harm by the alleged delay. Reversed.
Court: Utah Court Of Appeals, Judge: Mortensen, Filed On: February 1, 2024, Case #: 20210698-CA, Categories: Ada / Rehabilitation Act, Property
J. Harris holds that the trial court must reassess whether a commercial tenant's breach of a settlement agreement was a material breach and, if it was, whether the landlord is entitled to damages or to have the settlement agreement rescinded. In the process, the trial court must determine whether the parties can be restored to their pre-settlement status and whether equitable concerns merit rescission instead of enforcement of the agreement's terms. After those issues are resolved, the trial court can re-evaluate the parties' requests for attorney fees and assess which party prevailed in each phase of litigation. Vacated.
Court: Utah Court Of Appeals, Judge: Harris, Filed On: January 25, 2024, Case #: 20220003-CA, Categories: Settlements, Attorney Fees, Contract
J. Tenney finds that the trial court properly granted summary judgment to a lender facing a borrower's attempt to have its loans declared null and void. Under the election of remedies doctrine, an underlying New York judgment barred the attempt since the borrower failed to raise its claim in the New York action that the loans were invalid. Affirmed.
Court: Utah Court Of Appeals, Judge: Tenney, Filed On: January 25, 2024, Case #: 20210448-CA, Categories: Civil Procedure, Banking / Lending
J. Tenney finds that defendant was properly convicted of two counts of sodomy on a child and one count of dealing material harmful to a child. Counsel was not deficient for deciding not to rely on a partial recantation by the victim, or for not challenging the admission of testimony by two other children who claimed he had abused them. The trial court's findings supported its decision to allow the victim to testify remotely, and technical problems with that testimony did not prejudice him. Affirmed.
Court: Utah Court Of Appeals, Judge: Tenney, Filed On: January 25, 2024, Case #: 20180319-CA, Categories: Ineffective Assistance, Sex Offender
Want access to unlimited case records and advanced research tools? Create your free CasePortal account now. No credit card required to register.
Try CasePortal for Free
J. Mortensen finds that the district court properly granted summary judgment to a mother on her adult daughter's emotional distress claims. The mother's communications with her daughter were attempts at reconciliation, though possibly insensitive to the history of sexual abuse by the mother's husband that led to the daughter's removal from the mother's home as a child. The daughter's negligent sexual abuse claim failed because a neighbor's warning to the mother about her husband's inappropriate behavior around children was not sufficient to put the mother on notice that her daughter was at risk. Affirmed.
Court: Utah Court Of Appeals, Judge: Mortensen, Filed On: January 19, 2024, Case #: 20220207-CA, Categories: Negligence, Emotional Distress
J. Tenney finds that victim testimony and a recorded pretext call between the victim and defendant supported her conviction for aggravated sexual abuse of a child. Counsel's decision to not file a motion to exclude the pretext call was sound since there was no basis to argue it was a coerced confession. While counsel's choice to accept her admissions but argue that the victim had initiated many of their sexual encounters was problematic, counsel had only bad strategic choices to work with. Affirmed.
Court: Utah Court Of Appeals, Judge: Tenney, Filed On: January 19, 2024, Case #: 20200255-CA, Categories: Ineffective Assistance, Sex Offender
J. Orme finds that the trial court should have applied the reasonable time rule to a divorce decree that awarded commercial property to a wife and an equity interest to the husband that was redeemable when the property is sold. Instead, the reasonable time the wife has for performance lasts until she ceases to operate a salon at the property. Reversed in part.
Court: Utah Court Of Appeals, Judge: Orme, Filed On: January 11, 2024, Case #: 20220090-CA, Categories: Family Law
J. Christiansen Forster finds that the trial court erred in binding defendant over on an aggravated kidnapping charge. The state failed to show that he intentionally or knowingly assisted another inmate who locked two officers in a cell during a prison riot. Reversed.
Court: Utah Court Of Appeals, Judge: Christiansen Forster, Filed On: January 11, 2024, Case #: 20220886-CA, Categories: Kidnapping
J. Luthy finds that the trial court properly applied the negligence statute that was in effect at the time of a traffic collision that broke a minor's wrist, and not a subsequent version that includes "a bone fracture" as a threshold injury for supporting a cause of action. Also, the applicable threshold was not met since a fracture cannot be described as "dismemberment" and the minor's guardian failed to provide expert evidence that her injuries resulted in permanent impairment. Affirmed.
Court: Utah Court Of Appeals, Judge: Luthy, Filed On: January 11, 2024, Case #: 20210789-CA, Categories: Damages, Negligence, Experts
J. Oliver finds that the trial court's colloquy with defendant before he was allowed to represent himself on failure to stop, reckless driving and drug possession charges was inadequate to support a valid waiver of counsel. The record shows he did not recognize the nature of the charges and repeatedly stated his belief that he saw the trial solely as a way to tell his story. Vacated.
Court: Utah Court Of Appeals, Judge: Oliver, Filed On: January 5, 2024, Case #: 20220208-CA, Categories: Drug Offender, Self Representation
J. Oliver finds that the trial court properly determined that claim preclusion barred quiet title and unjust enrichment claims brought by a debtor facing foreclosure. His claims were based on the same transaction underlying earlier litigation that ended in dismissal. Affirmed.
Court: Utah Court Of Appeals, Judge: Oliver, Filed On: January 5, 2024, Case #: 20220434-CA, Categories: Property, Banking / Lending
J. Orme holds that defendant is entitled to a new trial on rape of a child and aggravated sexual abuse of a child counts because trial counsel failed to request a unanimity jury instruction. However, his challenges to the evidence supporting his conviction for object rape of a child are insufficient. Reversed in part.
Court: Utah Court Of Appeals, Judge: Orme, Filed On: January 5, 2024, Case #: 20190593-CA, Categories: Sex Offender, Child Victims
J. Harris finds that the trial court prematurely dismissed claims that a debt collector was not properly registered and bonded when it filed lawsuits against debtors. The debtors are entitled to use discovery to challenge whether deception or an actual error prompted the debt collector to file a statement of correction clarifying its corporate status weeks after suing the debtors. Reversed.
Court: Utah Court Of Appeals, Judge: Harris, Filed On: January 5, 2024, Case #: 20220841-CA, Categories: Debt Collection
J. Tenney finds that the district court properly ruled in favor of the Utah Jazz and visiting player Russell Westbrook on defamation and emotional distress claims made by two Jazz fans. Westbrook's after-game comments that he believed one of the fans said something racist to him cannot be considered defamatory because it was a constitutionally protected statement of opinion that cannot be proven true or false. Affirmed.
Court: Utah Court Of Appeals, Judge: Tenney, Filed On: December 29, 2023, Case #: 20210414-CA, Categories: Defamation
J. Christiansen Forster finds that the Labor Commission was within its discretion to reject the conclusions of the first medical panel that reviewed a worker's claims and appoint a second medical panel because of the first panel's qualifications and because it did not conduct a physical or virtual examination.
Court: Utah Court Of Appeals, Judge: Christiansen Forster, Filed On: December 29, 2023, Case #: 20220597-CA, Categories: Workers' Compensation
J. Tenney holds that a contractor's preliminary lien notice was not timely but the trial court must determine the value of work it performed after the notice, which may support a claim under the savings statute. On remand, the trial court may consider the lien, as well as any related contract claims, in determining the prevailing party for any attorney fee award, and it should use the flexible and reasoned approach. Reversed in part.
Court: Utah Court Of Appeals, Judge: Tenney, Filed On: December 29, 2023, Case #: 20210847-CA, Categories: Construction, Attorney Fees, Contract
J. Harris rejects a wife's challenge to the trial court's alimony award. At the time of the trial, it was unlikely that the husband would receive profit sharing payments, so they were properly excluded from his gross income. Changes in his income outlook do not warrant a new trial, but she may file a petition to modify. Affirmed.
Court: Utah Court Of Appeals, Judge: Harris, Filed On: December 29, 2023, Case #: 20220067-CA, Categories: Family Law
J. Sorenson finds that the trial court properly refused to bifurcate defendant's trial on a weapon charge from the determination of whether he was a restricted person since both issues were inextricably related. A mistrial was unnecessary after counsel impeached a witness's testimony. Counsel was not deficient for deciding not to object to an officer's claim that folding knives and a hatchet found in defendant's car were dangerous weapons. Affirmed.
Court: Utah Court Of Appeals, Judge: Oliver, Filed On: December 29, 2023, Case #: 20210884-CA, Categories: Criminal Procedure, Probation, Weapons
J. Oliver finds that administrative agencies were within their discretion and supported by evidence in firing a youth corrections counselor for using excessive force. The sanction was not entirely consistent with other agency actions, but the decision was fairly and rationally based on his use of an unapproved reverse-gooseneck hold on a detainee that resulted in a serious injury. Affirmed.
Court: Utah Court Of Appeals, Judge: Oliver, Filed On: December 21, 2023, Case #: 20220365-CA, Categories: Employment
J. Luthy finds that the juvenile court properly refused to let a grandmother intervene in a child placement decision since she did not show that she has a right to have her daughter's children placed near her home or with a relative. But she does have a limited-purpose interest to request preferential consideration for temporary kinship placement. Reversed in part.
Court: Utah Court Of Appeals, Judge: Luthy, Filed On: December 21, 2023, Case #: 20220623-CA, Categories: Family Law
J. Oliver finds that evidence of text messages related to drug use were properly admitted in a trial that led to defendant's negligent homicide conviction because they showed he knew the risks of impaired driving. Also, an Allen charge encouraging the jury to come to a verdict did not ask jurors to abandon independent judgment, and sufficient evidence of impairment from oxycodone was presented. Affirmed.
Court: Utah Court Of Appeals, Judge: Oliver, Filed On: December 21, 2023, Case #: 20220182-CA, Categories: Evidence, Dui, Vehicular Homicide
J. Christiansen Forster finds that the trial court erred in excluding evidence that the state's key witness in a drug-dealing case had himself been arrested on a drug charge before trial. The evidence is admissible for the non-character purpose of showing the witness had a motivation to further his relationship as an informant for the police. Reversed.
Court: Utah Court Of Appeals, Judge: Christiansen Forster, Filed On: December 21, 2023, Case #: 20210541-CA, Categories: Drug Offender
J. Harris finds the trial court improperly found the claimed owner of an option to buy certain property was legally assigned the option from the owner. Other entities claiming to the option say the assignment was an invalid, fraudulent transfer and they own the option after purchasing it in an execution sale from a previous owner. The trial court’s fraudulent transfer analysis contained legal errors and an erroneous subsidiary factual finding regarding the previous owner's intent to hinder, delay or defraud its creditor. Vacated.
Court: Utah Court Of Appeals, Judge: Harris , Filed On: December 14, 2023, Case #: 20220892-CA, Categories: Fraud, Property, Contract
J. Mortensen finds the trial court improperly convicted defendant for home invasion and assault of a 72-year-old woman. Defendant was already in jail on drug charges and police interviewed him, resulting in a confession. Trial counsel was ineffective for failing to move to suppress defendant's confessions. The state had no other evidence of his guilt and the failure to move to suppress resulted in prejudice. Vacated.
Court: Utah Court Of Appeals, Judge: Mortensen , Filed On: December 14, 2023, Case #: 20210766-CA, Categories: Ineffective Assistance, Robbery, Assault
J. Harris finds the trial court properly convicted defendant for the object rape and forcible sexual abuse of his 14-year-old stepdaughter. Though he argues the victim's testimony was improbable and there was insufficient evidence supporting the penetration element of the object rape charge, the testimony was not improbable and all evidence supports the convictions. Furthermore, nothing in the record supports defendant's claims of deficient performance of counsel. Affirmed.
Court: Utah Court Of Appeals, Judge: Harris , Filed On: December 14, 2023, Case #: 20210403-CA, Categories: Evidence, Sex Offender, Child Victims
J. Orme finds the district court properly denied defendant's motion to reinstate his lapsed time to appeal. Charged with murder and abuse of a dead human body for his help in another's suicide, and in two other cases with five counts of sexual exploitation of a minor and two counts of tampering with a witness, defendant pleaded guilty to one count of child abuse homicide and one count of attempted sexual exploitation of a minor. He did not file a notice of appeal until two years later. Counsel did not perform deficiently in not consulting with defendant post-sentence. Affirmed.
Court: Utah Court Of Appeals, Judge: Orme , Filed On: December 14, 2023, Case #: 20220278-CA, Categories: Murder, Sex Offender, Child Victims
J. Mortensen finds that the trial court properly ordered a permanent stalking injunction on a building manager who had threatened a tenant's employee. The order was supported by evidence that the building manager targeted the employee with a course of conduct that would make a reasonable person fear for his safety. Affirmed.
Court: Utah Court Of Appeals, Judge: Mortensen, Filed On: December 7, 2023, Case #: 20220522-CA, Categories: Restraining Order