Mitchell v. Roberts, 2020 UT 34 (June 11, 2020)

Utah Code § 78B-2308(7) provides that, even if claims for sexual abuse of minors were “time barred as of July 1, 2016,” the claims were nonetheless revived if they were “brought within 35 years of the victim’s 18th birthday, or within three years of the effective date of this subsection (7), whichever is longer.”  On certified question from the federal district court, the supreme court held that the statute is unconstitutional because “the Utah Legislature is constitutionally prohibited from retroactively reviving a time-barred claim in a manner depriving the defendant of a vested statute of limitations defense.”