Utah Law Developments: Appellate Highlights
| Publication year | 2023 |
| Pages | 25 |
March, 2023
Utah Law Developments
Appellate Highlights
by Rodney R. Parker, Dani Cepernich, Robert Cummings, Nathanael Mitchell, and Andrew Roth
EDITOR'S NOTE: The following appellate cases of interest were recently decided by the Utah Supreme Court, Utah Court of Appeals, and United States Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. The following summaries have been prepared by the authoring attorneys listed above, who are solely responsible for their content.
UTAH SUPREME COURT
In re A.B.
2022 UT 39 (Nov. 25, 2022)
The supreme court affirmed the court of appeals' reversal of a juvenile court's decision to place the mother's child in the custody of her aunt and uncle. On appeal, the guardian ad litem and the aunt and uncle argued that the courts should apply a deferential standard of review not just to best interest determinations, but "to 'all aspects' of juvenile court determinations." In affirming the court of appeals, the Supreme Court held that "[u]nlike the best interest determination .. with nearly unlimited possible scenarios and factors for the juvenile court to consider, a neglect determination requires a court to operate within a closed universe. Once the facts have been established, the juvenile court is limited to determining whether the statutory criteria for neglect have been met. Doing so is primarily a law-like endeavor." Therefore, the court held that the proper standard of review was a non-deferential mixed question of fact and law standard.
Williamson v. MGS by Design, Inc. 2022 UT 40 (Nov. 25, 2022)
A sales agent alleged her former employer violated state statute by failing to pay commissions. The company successfully moved to dismiss, arguing a provision in the statute referencing an agreement required a signed writing as a condition of recovery. Reversing the dismissal, the supreme court held the plain language of the Utah Sales Representative Commission Payment Act did not condition recovery on the existence of a signed writing.
Kingston v. Kingston 2022 UT 43 (Dec. 22, 2022)
In this case, the trial court prohibited the father, who was a member of the Kingston polygamist group, from encouraging the children "to adopt the teachings of any religion" without the mother's consent. The court held that the father has a fundamental right to encourage his children in the practice of religion despite the court's award of sole legal custody to the mother. It held that the award of legal custody to the mother limits the father's parental right only to the extent necessary to provide mother with the authority to make major decisions for the children, and that the trial court's prohibition was not narrowly tailored to address potential harms the trial court identified.
UTAH COURT OF APPEALS
Tooele County v. Erda Community Association 2022 UT App 123, 521 P.3d 872 (Nov. 10, 2022)
The Erda Community Association sued Tooele County, petitioning for judicial review of a county planning commission decision. The County moved to dismiss the petition, asserting the Association failed to exhaust its administrative remedies. The district court denied the motion, concluding...
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