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Utah Supreme Court Building

Recent Utah Appellate Decisions July 2019

Case summaries are authored by members of Snow Christensen & Martineau’s Appellate Practice Group.  For more information, visit our Appellate Highlights page.  Utah Supreme Court Keystone Insurance Agency, LLC v. Inside Insurance, LLC 2019 UT 20 (May 29, 2019) In this…

State v. Silva, 2019 UT 36 (July 23, 2019)

In this direct appeal from a criminal conviction, the court repudiated language in prior case law limiting the review of an attorney’s performance to the law in effect at the time of trial, and held that “‘[t]he proper measure of…

Vega v. Jordan Valley Medical Center, 2019 UT 35 (July 19, 2019)

The Utah Health Care Malpractice Act requires a plaintiff to obtain a certificate of compliance from the Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing (DOPL) before filing suit.  The court held that this requirement of the Malpractice Act is unconstitutional because…

AGTC Inc. v. CoBon Energy, 2019 UT App 124 (July 18, 2019)

CoBon Energy entered into a consulting agreement with Appellants regarding pursuing certain tax credits related to the manufacture of synthetic fuels from coal.  Appellants’ principals had significant training and education in mining engineering but were not licensed as professional engineers. …

Williamson v. Farrell, 2019 UT App 123 (July 18, 2019)

The plaintiffs filed this action seeking a judicial declaration they had not committed elder abuse or breached any fiduciary duties to the husband’s elderly mother, as his siblings had publicly accused them of doing.  The district court dismissed the case…

Nixon v. Clay, 2019 UT 32 (July 11, 2019)

Adopting a new framework for assessing liability for sport injuries, the supreme court held that “participants in sports generally have no duty to avoid conduct that is inherent in the sport.”  Because the plaintiff’s injuries arose out of contact that…

Rocky Ford v. Kents Lake, 2019 UT 31 (July 11, 2019)

Rocky Ford is a downstream user of water rights from the Bear River.  Kents Lake is an upstream user.  The two entities had entered into various agreements over several decades.  With the advent of sprinkler irrigation, as compared to traditional…