Case Summaries

2020 UT App 41 The Utah Court of Appeals held that a development agreement was unambiguous as to transferable development rights and that the city’s rezoning of the property was a legislative act and was validly reversed by referendum.  A developer (original developer) entered into a development agreement with Mapleton City regarding 245 acres of undeveloped real estate on Mapleton’s...

2020 UT 10 (February 28, 2020) The Utah Supreme Court clarified prior cases regarding severance damages in partial takings and held that a berm supporting a freeway overpass constituted an “improvement” in statute justifying a jury award of severance damages. UDOT’s project to widen I-15 and replace an existing interchange resulted in the taking of a small portion of property...

2020 UT App 12 (January 24, 2020) (cert denied) The Utah Court of Appeals held that city, by adopting a zoning status agreement without public hearing, committed an unlawful act of contract zoning. A developer just outside of Moab proposed a mixed use residential, commercial, and hotel development. The landowner and City entered into a pre-annexation agreement to facilitate annexation...

United States 10th Circuit Court of Appeals 791 Fed. Appx. 711, 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 32393 (cert denied) The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals held that the destruction of a home by police officers attempting to apprehend a criminal suspect was not a taking under the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution. The Lechs owned a home for their...

2019 UT 62 (October 16, 2019) The Utah Supreme Court held that a water district, which owned an easement across land owned by a state trust, had no authority to regulate the trust’s use of its property. Metro Water District owns an easement across land owned by SHCH Alaska Trust (Alaska), which gives it a right to enter Alaska’s property...

Utah Supreme Court August 13, 2019 2019 UT 45 (Click for full text)  ***Subsequent history. After remand from this opinion, a subsequent appeal was the subject of an additional opinion by the Utah Supreme Court. Please see WDIS v. Hi-Country Estates (WDIS II), 2022 UT 33 The Utah Supreme Court clarified two prior cases – In re Hoopiiaina Trust  and...

2019 UT App 132, 447 P.3d 1278 (Aug. 1, 2019)  The Utah Court of Appeals adopted a test for defining the scope of an implied easement, which is determined by looking at the parties’ probable expectations at the time of severance. Bridge and Sorf own adjoining properties separated by a paved alley. The alley is on Bridge’s property. Both properties...

139 S. Ct. 2162, 204 L. Ed. 2d 558 (June 21, 2019)  The United States Supreme Court overruled its prior decision in Williamson County Regional Planning Comm’n v. Hamilton Bank (1985), which concluded that a property owner did not have a ripe federal takings claim until he had unsuccessfully pursued an initial state law claim for just compensation. A Pennsylvania...

2019 UT 23, 445 P.3d 443 (June 11, 2019) The Utah Supreme Court held that a claim of unreasonable interference with a water district’s easement over private party was ripe for adjudication. Metro owns and operates the Salt Lake Aqueduct (SLA), and along its corridor, owns some property in fee and has easements over other portions. Mr. Sorf owns property...

2019 UT App 94, 444 P.3d 567 (May 31, 2019) (cert. denied)  The Utah Court of Appeals upheld a judgment in favor of Salt Lake City in allowing a special exception for construction of a two-story house that exceeded Salt Lake City Code’s maximum height allowance. A house began construction on the lot directly south of homeowner Jeremy Ferre’s property....