Defendant shot and killed a shopkeeper’s son within a few feet of the shopkeeper—close enough that the shopkeeper “felt the air displaced by the bullets.” A jury convicted defendant of aggravated murder based on the “great risk of death” aggravator. …
In this appeal from a restitution order, the Tenth Circuit held that the district court erred in ordering restitution for a broad conspiracy, where there was a variance between the conspiracy charged in the indictment and the smaller conspiracy actually…
The court of appeals previously held that an implied covenant may preclude an employer from firing an at-will employee to avoid paying commissions owed under a separate compensation agreement. In a split decision, the supreme court reversed, holding that applying…
The Tenth Circuit held as a matter of first impression that 28 U.S.C. § 1963 applies only to registration of federal court judgments in federal courts—not to state court judgments. Accordingly, the court reversed the district court’s judgment registering a Florida…
A driver had backed into a loading dock at the plaintiff’s employer, damaging the dock and a vinyl curtain mounted at the dock. One week to a month later, the plaintiff was injured when a bracket from the vinyl curtain…
By: Heather S. White
Attorney Heather S. White’s presentation on Recent Claims Trends
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 Thomas v. Hillyard 2019 UT 29 (July 2, 2019) As a matter of first impression,…
This section 1983 case arose out of an early-morning SWAT-style raid of a suburban home based on finding loose-leaf tea in their garbage. The district court granted qualified immunity to some of the defendants. In the first appeal, the panel…
By: Heather S. White
All summaries are written by Heather White and are for informational purposes only. Amundsen v. University of Utah Plaintiff sought damages for injuries she suffered during a surgery performed by a University of Utah School of Medicine professor at LDS…
By: Heather S. White
Government Entities, Case Law Update – Law Enforcement , October 2019
