On Certiorari to the Utah Court of Appeals Chief Justice DURRANT, opinion of the Court: INTRODUCTION 1 This case requires us to consider whether a party who has stipulated to the resolution of its claims may subsequently challenge that resolution on appeal. In this case, after the district court denied all but one of Prinsburg State Bank's (Prinsburg's) claims on summary judgment, the parties stipulated to the resolution of each of the issues they had presented to the court. Specifically,...
Chief Justice DURRANT, opinion of the Court: INTRODUCTION 1 Trovon Donta Ross was convicted of aggravated murder and attempted aggravated murder in 2004. Following a direct appeal, he filed a pro se petition seeking relief under the Post-Conviction Remedies Act (PCRA) on the grounds that his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to raise the defense of extreme emotional distress and that his appellate counsel was ineffective for failing to raise a claim of ineffective assistance of...
AMENDED OPINION * Chief Justice DURRANT, opinion of the Court: INTRODUCTION 1 This case requires us to determine when a well "started" under section 59-5-102 of the Utah Code. Although that statute imposes a severance tax on oil or gas produced from a well, 1 section 59-5-102(5)(c) (Tax Exemption Statute) permits an exemption for "the first six months of production for development wells started after January 1, 1990." 2 Summit Operating, LLC (Summit) argues that a well starts when it...
Justice PARRISH, opinion of the Court: INTRODUCTION 1 This case involves Salt Lake City's (City) petition to validate municipal bonds pursuant to the Bond Validation Act (Validation Act). In 2003, the City asked voters to approve Proposition No. 5, which proposed the issuance of bonds to finance construction of a "Regional Sports, Recreation and Education Complex." Voters approved the bonds. Years later, in 2011, the City authorized issuance of the bonds with Resolution No. 12 and then...
Chief Justice DURRANT, Opinion of the Court: INTRODUCTION 1 This case involves the testamentary appointment of guardianship and conservatorship of a minor (Child). Although he never formally intervened in the case below, Child's biological father, Tetlo "Danny" Goings, challenges the appointment of Child's maternal grandparents (Grandparents) as Child's guardians. On appeal, Mr. Goings argues that (a) the district court erred in its interpretation of the term "parent" and accordingly, the...
Justice PARRISH, opinion of the Court: INTRODUCTION 1 Petitioner Shannon Glenn Winward appeals the dismissal of his first petition for post-conviction relief. The district court dismissed Mr. Winward's petition as procedurally barred under the Post-Conviction Remedies Act's (PCRA's) one-year statute of limitations because he filed his petition more than ten years after the required date. Mr. Winward argues that applying the one-year statute of limitations to his petition violates the Utah...
This opinion is subject to revision before final publication in the Pacific Reporter CHIEF JUSTICE DURRANT, opinion of the Court. INTRODUCTION 1 This case requires us to determine when a well "started" under section 59-5-102 of the Utah Code. Although that statute imposes a severance tax on oil or gas produced from a well, 1 section 59-5-102(5)(c) (Tax Exemption Statute) permits an exemption for "the first six months of production for development wells started after January 1, 1990." 2...
Justice LEE, opinion of the Court: 1 Antoine Harris was charged with two counts of assault in January 2008. He appeared for a jury trial in October 2009 and was subsequently convicted of a class B misdemeanor assault. Harris now appeals, claiming that his jury was assembled in a manner inconsistent with the requirements of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. We disagree and accordingly affirm. I 2 In December 2007, Amber Wardle and Sarah Michel spent the day shopping....
Justice LEE, opinion of the Court: 1 This case arises out of collective bargaining negotiations between the Utah Transit Authority and Local 382 of the Amalgamated Transit Union. Those negotiations came to a standstill in 2009, when the parties entered into arbitration and litigation to resolve their disputes. The district court granted UTA's partial motion for summary judgment in the ensuing litigation, and the Union appealed. 2 Before the matter could be addressed on appeal, however,...
Justice PARRISH, opinion of the Court: INTRODUCTION 1 Petitioners appeal a decision of the Board of Oil, Gas and Mining (Board). The Board affirmed the approval of Alton Coal Development's (ACD) mining permit, which allowed ACD to conduct surface coal mining operations at the Coal Hollow Mine. Petitioners argue that the Board erred in affirming ACD's mining permit because the permit application was deficient in several respects. We disagree and affirm the Board's decision. BACKGROUND 2...
Justice DURHAM, opinion of the Court: INTRODUCTION 1 In 1985, Douglas Carter was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to death. He now appeals the district court's dismissal of his successive postconviction petition for relief. We affirm the dismissal. BACKGROUND 2 In February 1985, Eva Oleson was found murdered in her home in Provo. Police eventually identified Carter as a suspect. In April of that year, he was arrested and charged with first degree murder in Nashville,...
On Certification from the Utah Court of Appeals Justice DURHAM, opinion of the Court: INTRODUCTION 1 The defendant in this case challenges the district court's denial of his motion to reduce the degree of his convictions. The defendant entered into a plea agreement in 2005 in which the State promised to not oppose a motion to reduce his convictions. The defendant later filed a motion to reduce his convictions after successfully completing his probation, as required by statute. During his...
Justice LEE, opinion of the Court: 1 In this case we are asked to answer a certified question from the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit concerning the preclusive effect of a decision like that in Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints v. Lindberg, 2010 UT 51, 238 P.3d 1054 . The state law question presented focuses specifically on whether our "discretionary review of a petition for extraordinary writ and subsequent dismissal on laches grounds" is a "...
Justice PARRISH, opinion of the Court: INTRODUCTION 1 On certiorari, we must determine whether D.B., who was charged as a principal for theft and criminal trespass, received adequate Sixth Amendment notice that he may be adjudicated delinquent as an accomplice for both charges. 2 The State of Utah filed a petition that charged D.B. as a principal with theft and criminal trespass for entering a construction site and removing a pair of bolt cutters. The juvenile court adjudicated D.B....
On Certiorari to the Utah Court of Appeals. NEHRING, Associate Chief Justice: 1 Arvin Moore was convicted of aggravated sexual abuse of a child, a first-degree felony, and dealing in material harmful to a minor, a second-degree felony. He appealed his convictions to the court of appeals, asserting that he should be granted a new trial because his trial counsel was ineffective. Specifically, Mr. Moore contended that trial counsel did not properly investigate or exploit discrepancies in the...
On Certiorari to the Utah Court of Appeals Chief Justice DURRANT, opinion of the Court: INTRODUCTION 1 In this case, we consider whether the Utah Health Care Malpractice Act's two-year statute of limitations is triggered when a patient merely suspects that she has received negligent medical treatment. We also consider what a defendant must demonstrate, in a case where a plaintiff has alleged a course of negligent treatment, to show that the claim is barred by the two-year statute of...
On Certiorari to the Utah Court of Appeals Justice LEE, opinion of the Court: 1 Patrick Robert Ramirez was charged with possession of methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia, but the district court declined to bind him over for trial at a preliminary hearing. The State appealed, and a divided court of appeals affirmed. We now reverse, correcting what we see as errors in the lower courts' articulation and application of the probable cause standard that applies in a preliminary hearing. I...
On Certiorari to the Utah Court of Appeals Justice LEE, opinion of the court: 1 In 2005, Allen Grazer obtained a judgment against Gordon Jones and Richard Barney for breach of contract. To satisfy the judgment, property held by Jones and Barney was sold at a sheriff's sale and purchased by Grazer's attorney on his client's behalf. Jones and Barney assigned their redemption interests to the Olsen Trust, which attempted to redeem the property under rule 69C(c) of the Utah Rules of Civil...
Associate Chief Justice NEHRING, opinion of the Court: INTRODUCTION 1 This appeal is rooted in a dispute over an arbitration award. Westgate Resorts argued that the award should be vacated because one of the arbitrators did not disclose that he was first cousins with one of the shareholders in the opposing counsel's law firm. The district court granted Westgate's motion to vacate arbitration award. We reverse. BACKGROUND 2 Westgate Resorts filed an initial lawsuit against Consumer...
Associate Chief Justice NEHRING, opinion of the Court: 1 In this appeal we review and hold to be unconstitutional a jury's award of punitive damages. Westgate Resorts contends that the punitive damages awarded to Consumer Protection Group violate both substantive and procedural due process. We agree with Westgate that the award violates procedural due process. In light of this conclusion, we need not reach Westgate's argument that the award was unconstitutionally excessive in violation of...
