On Certiorari to the Utah Court of Appeals Justice LEE, opinion of the Court: 1 Lonnie Arave approached an eleven-year-old boy in their Ogden neighborhood and offered to pay him $20 if he would agree to let Arave perform oral sex on him. At trial, Arave moved to dismiss a charge of attempted sodomy on a child, asserting that his conduct amounted only to the offense of solicitation and could not sustain a conviction of attempt. The district court denied the motion, and Arave was convicted on...
Chief Justice DURHAM, opinion of the Court: INTRODUCTION 1 In 2000, a fire destroyed a business location of Stone Flood and Fire Restoration Inc., spurring years of litigation with its insurer, Safeco Insurance Company of America. After Stone Flood and its two shareholders, James and Patrice Stone, sued Safeco in 2007, the district court dismissed all claims against Safeco. The court concluded that Stone Flood's claims on the insurance policy were filed three days beyond the applicable...
Justice NEHRING, opinion of the Court: 1 Aequitas Enterprises, LLC, and Interstate Investment Group, LLC, entered into a real estate contract for the sale of 388 properties, all located outside the state of Utah. Aequitas subsequently sued Interstate Investment Group for breach of contract. To protect its interest in the properties, Aequitas also filed a motion requesting an extraterritorial prejudgment writ of attachment on all the properties. The district court granted Aequitas's motion...
Associate Chief Justice DURRANT, opinion of the Court: INTRODUCTION 1 In this appeal, Daniel Berman challenges the denial of his Motion to Enforce the Memorandum Decisions and Orders of the Court (the Motion to Enforce or the Motion). As part of his initial action, Mr. Berman asked the district court for a declaratory judgment quantifying his Utah water rights. Mr. Berman also sought an injunction ordering a Wyoming water official to deliver this water to his property in Wyoming. The...
Justice PARRISH, opinion of the Court: INTRODUCTION 1 Utah Code section 78B-5-505 1 (the exemption statute) provides that a "retirement plan or arrangement that is described in Section 401(a)" of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code (the IRC) is exempt from a debtor's bankruptcy estate. UTAH CODE ANN. 78B-5-505(1)(a)(xiv) (2008). In this case, we determine whether a retirement plan can be "described in Section 401(a)" of the IRC when it fails to fulfill that section's requirements for tax...
Chief Justice DURHAM, opinion of the court: INTRODUCTION 1 Dennis and Tamara (Tammy) Goggin separated and divorced in 2005, but are still litigating aspects of their divorce. During the pendency of the divorce proceedings, Tammy brought a separate civil suit seeking various forms of equitable relief and monetary damages, which the district court granted. Several parties to that lawsuit, including Dennis, appeal the district court's decision. We conclude that some of the parties filed...
On Certification from the Utah Court of Appeals Chief Justice DURHAM, opinion of the Court: INTRODUCTION 1 We must decide whether the juvenile court erred in concluding that a minor's alleged solicitation of a stranger to punch her and terminate her pregnancy qualifies as an abortion, as the term is defined in the Utah Code. The juvenile court held that an assault of a woman by punching her stomach was a "procedure" intended to terminate her pregnancy and therefore fell within the...
Justice LEE, opinion of the Court: 1 Aaron Harrison was charged with and pleaded guilty to attempted murder of the unborn child of a juvenile mother, J.M.S. The charge and plea were based on the allegation that Harrison tried to kill the child by punching J.M.S. in the abdomen in exchange for a $150 payment by J.M.S. At Harrison's sentencing, the district court sua sponte found him ineligible for conviction of attempted murder under the standard set forth in State v. Shondel, 22 Utah.2d...
Justice LEE, opinion of the Court: 1 In December 1989, Michael Archuleta was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to death for the brutal murder of Gordon Ray Church. The case has slowly worked its way through the Utah court system ever since. This opinion consolidates analysis from the fourth and fifth times that this court has entertained appeals by Archuleta. We find none of Archuleta's numerous claims in either of these appeals availing, and we accordingly reaffirm his...
Justice PARRISH, opinion of the Court: INTRODUCTION 1 Utah Code section 78B-6-121 provides that an unwed father's consent to the adoption of his child is not required unless he files a paternity petition and a sworn affidavit stating, among other things, that he is willing to pay child support and take custody of the child. The statute requires that the father comply with these requirements before the mother executes her consent to the adoption. 2 This case requires us to determine...
AMENDED OPINION * On Certification from the Utah Court of Appeals Justice PARRISH, opinion of the Court: INTRODUCTION 1 This case requires us to determine whether article I, section 13 of the Utah Constitution entitles a defendant charged with Class A misdemeanors to a preliminary hearing. The district court denied Victor Hernandez's request for a preliminary hearing because it concluded that the right to a preliminary hearing guaranteed under article I, section 13 does not apply to...
AMENDED OPINION * Chief Justice DURHAM, opinion of the Court: INTRODUCTION 1 This appeal involves a challenge to the state engineer's authority to declare forfeiture of a water right as the basis for denying a change application. We hold that the state engineer lacks authority to declare a water right forfeited in reviewing a change application. We reverse the district court's grant of summary judgment and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. BACKGROUND 2...
Associate Chief Justice DURRANT, opinion of the Court: INTRODUCTION 1 In 2004, David and Kristine Anderson purchased an undeveloped lot of land from Country Living Development, L.C. (Country Living), located in a subdivision owned and developed by Country Living. After constructing a home on the lot and moving into it, the Andersons began to notice several structural problems, including large cracks in the home's flooring and window frames. A short time later, the Andersons learned that...
Justice LEE, opinion of the Court: 1 This is an appeal from a decision by the district court upholding Salt Lake County's zoning of property owned by L.C. Canyon Partners and affirming the County Council's authority to rescind an ordinance that would have rezoned that property. We agree with the district court and affirm its entry of summary judgment against L.C. Canyon. The County had a rational basis for its zoning decision and the Council had the authority to rescind its rezoning...
Associate Chief Justice DURRANT, opinion of the Court: INTRODUCTION 1 This case comes to us on a petition for extraordinary relief filed by the Salt Lake Legal Defender Association (LDA) against Judge Judith Atherton of the Third District Court. In 2009, Judge Atherton presided over a criminal proceeding involving Cody Augustine, an indigent defendant. Although Mr. Augustine was represented by private counsel, he filed a motion requesting that Judge Atherton order LDA or Salt Lake County (...
Associate Chief Justice DURRANT, opinion of the Court: INTRODUCTION 1 In this opinion, we address issues raised in three consolidated cases: (1) State v. Parduhn, (2) State v. Jeffs, and (3) State v. Davis. All three cases come to us on interlocutory appeal and involve nearly identical facts and issues. Mr. Parduhn, Mr. Jeffs, and Mr. Davis (collectively, the Defendants) have all been charged with crimes in Salt Lake County (the County). Although each of the Defendants was found to be...
Justice NEHRING, opinion of the Court: INTRODUCTION 1 In this case, we review the Utah State Tax Commission's decision to deny Ivory Homes' refund request for sales tax it paid on expenses associated with concrete products that were delivered to various locations throughout Utah. We conclude that the Commission did not erroneously receive, collect, or compute any tax or overpayment that would entitle Ivory Homes to a refund under Utah Code section 59-12-110(2). We therefore affirm the...
Associate Chief Justice DURRANT, opinion of the Court: INTRODUCTION 1 In this appeal, we consider the constitutionality of a search warrant issued by a magistrate judge authorizing the police to draw blood from Appellant, Chanzy Walker. At a pretrial hearing, the district court concluded that the warrant issued by the magistrate lacked probable cause. But despite this conclusion, the district court denied a motion to suppress filed by Ms. Walker based on its determination that the good...
AMENDED OPINION * NEHRING, Justice: INTRODUCTION 1 This is Mr. Lovell's third direct appeal of his conviction for the aggravated murder of Joyce Yost. In this appeal, Mr. Lovell challenges the district court's denial of his motion to withdraw his guilty plea. We reverse the holding of the district court and hold that the trial court's failure to strictly comply with Utah Rule of Criminal Procedure 11(e) constituted good cause to allow Mr. Lovell to withdraw his guilty plea. BACKGROUND...
AMENDED OPINION * Associate Chief Justice DURRANT, opinion of the Court: INTRODUCTION 1 Appellants, Marion Energy, Inc. (Marion) and the State of Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration (the Trust), lease and own oil and gas deposits that lie underneath property owned by the KFJ Ranch Partnership (KFJ). In order to build a road to access these deposits, Marion and the Trust seek to condemn a portion of KFJ's land. To do so, they rely upon a statute that permits the...
