DURRANT, Associate Chief Justice: INTRODUCTION 1 This case comes to us on direct appeal from the district court and involves a land use dispute between appellant, Nadine Gillmor, and appellee, Summit County (the "County"). We are asked to determine whether the district court erred in granting summary judgment in favor of the County on the ground that all of Gillmor's claims are time barred. Additionally, we must decide whether a plaintiff seeking review of a land use decision under section...
DURRANT, Associate Chief Justice: INTRODUCTION 1 This appeal arises from the district court's dismissal of claims made by Chad Hudgens against Prosper, Inc., and Joshua Christopherson (collectively, "Prosper") for injuries related to the alleged waterboarding of Mr. Hudgens by Mr. Christopherson. Prosper filed a motion to dismiss Mr. Hudgens's complaint, which the district court granted. Before the order dismissing Mr. Hudgens's claims was entered, however, Mr. Hudgens filed a motion for...
PARRISH, Justice: INTRODUCTION 1 This case involves legal malpractice claims brought by Dr. Michael H. Jensen against attorney Allen K. Young for failing to file defamation claims against United Television, Inc. and Mary Sawyers (collectively, "Channel 4") within the statute of limitations. We are asked to determine whether the district court erred in granting summary judgment in favor of Mr. Young because Dr. Jensen failed to file his malpractice claims within the four-year statute of...
On Certiorari to the Utah Court of Appeals PARRISH, Justice: INTRODUCTION 1 This case involves the State of Utah, Division of Child and Family Services' removal of Indian children from their Grandfather's custody and presents issues regarding the interpretation of the Indian Child Welfare Act (the "ICWA"). 25 U.S.C. 1901-1963 (2006). We granted certiorari to determine whether the Utah Court of Appeals erred when it (1) determined that it had appellate jurisdiction to review whether the...
DURHAM, Chief Justice: INTRODUCTION 1 In this case, the trial court erred in denying defendant Cory Peterson's motion to dismiss an information filed by the Salt Lake City Prosecutor. We agree with Mr. Peterson's argument on interlocutory appeal that the plain language of Utah Code section 10-3-928 prohibits a city attorney from prosecuting misdemeanors and infractions that occurred outside that city's geographical boundaries. We reverse and remand for dismissal of the information....
NEHRING, Justice: INTRODUCTION 1 A black bear attacked and killed eleven-year-old Samuel Ives while he was sleeping in a tent with his family during a camping trip in American Fork Canyon. Earlier that morning, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (the "DWR") had been alerted to a bear attack at the same location, and state officials had conducted an unsuccessful search for the animal for several hours before Samuel and his family arrived at the campsite. The DWR did not notify potential...
NEHRING, Justice: INTRODUCTION 1 In this interlocutory appeal, Athletic Performance Institute, L.L.C., Utah Baseball Academy, Inc., and Robert Keyes (collectively, "API") ask us to overturn the district court's order, which denied API's motion to disqualify the district court judge, the Honorable Anthony Quinn, after he was exposed to confidential arbitration materials. Because we conclude that API's motion to disqualify Judge Quinn was untimely, we decline to consider the merits of the...
DURRANT, Associate Chief Justice: INTRODUCTION 1 We are asked to decide whether a trial court judge abused his discretion in entering default judgment against a defendant in an unlawful detainer action. The defendant, GR 2 Enterprises, is a limited liability company whose possession of certain real property was being disputed. In the course of the unlawful detainer action, one of the owners of GR 2 engaged in behavior that the district court, sua sponte, concluded was sanctionable under...
DURRANT, Associate Chief Justice: INTRODUCTION 1 This case concerns the United Effort Plan Trust ("UEP Trust" or "Trust")—a trust originally formed in 1942 by what petitioners characterize as a fundamentalist religious group that was the predecessor of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The Trust was modified in 1998 so that it qualified as a charitable trust under Utah law. In 2006, the Utah Third District Court issued an order that modified the Trust again....
PARRISH, Justice: INTRODUCTION 1 In this appeal, several Utah counties 1 (the "Counties") have petitioned for review of the Utah State Tax Commission's assessment of T-Mobile USA's ("T-Mobile") taxable property in Utah for the 2003 tax year. Concurrent with this appeal, T-Mobile sought de novo review of the Tax Commission's assessment in the district court, which acted as a "tax court," pursuant to Utah Code section 59-1-601, 602 (2008). The Counties' appeal to this court was stayed...
PARRISH, Justice: INTRODUCTION 1 Defendant Warren Jeffs was convicted of two counts of rape as an accomplice for his role in the compelled marriage of fourteen-year-old Elissa Wall to her nineteen-year-old first cousin, Allen Steed, and the resulting sexual intercourse between them. Jeffs appeals his convictions, arguing a variety of errors in the proceedings before the trial court. While we are unconvinced by the majority of Jeffs' arguments, we conclude that there were serious errors in...
On Certiorari to the Utah Court of Appeals NEHRING, Justice: INTRODUCTION 1 This case presents us with the question of what a party must do to "appear" under rule 5(a)(2)(B) of the Utah Rules of Civil Procedure. We hold that the court of appeals correctly determined that a rule 5(a)(2)(B) appearance requires a party to make a formal presentation or submission to the trial court. Because River Crossings failed to make an appearance as required by this rule, we affirm. BACKGROUND 2 In...
DURHAM, Chief Justice: INTRODUCTION 1 In this case, the district court improperly dismissed Tina Archuleta's negligent credentialing claim against St. Mark's Hospital on statutory grounds. We agree with Ms. Archuleta's argument on direct appeal that the plain language of Utah Code sections 58-13-5(7), 58-13-4, and 26-25-1 does not bar negligent credentialing claims brought by patients against health care providers. We reverse the district court's dismissal of Ms. Archuleta's negligent...
WILKINS, Justice: INTRODUCTION 1 In this direct appeal we are asked to determine the effect of a filed but unperfected pre-emption claim on the conveyance of property to the Utah Central Railroad Company under a perfected right-of-way grant by Act of Congress in 1870. Under federal law, a general right-of-way grant to a railroad is effective against pre-emptions that have only attached, but not against those that are perfected. In this case, the railroad grant is superior to the individual...
NEHRING, Justice: INTRODUCTION 1 This case comes to us on direct appeal from Mark Ott's sentencing for aggravated murder and other charges. On one horrific night in the summer of 2002, Mr. Ott broke into the home of his wife, Donna Ott, who had recently filed for divorce. Knife in hand, Mr. Ott attacked Mrs. Ott's boyfriend, Allen Lawrence. He also stabbed his stepdaughter, Sarah Gooch. Mr. Ott then set the house on fire. All of the residents of the house escaped except Lacey Lawrence, Mr....
