Recent Court Case Summaries

Utah Court of Appeals 2021 UT App 76 (Click for full text) The Utah Court of Appeals reversed the district court’s dismissal of a suit to recognize a prescriptive easement.  Background: A developer recently purchased two contiguous parcels of property (“Property”) on the northwest corner of 200 South and State Street, which is occupied by a fast-food restaurant and a...

Utah Supreme Court 2021 UT 23 (Click for full text). The Utah Supreme Court reversed the decision of the district court excluding the introduction of an affidavit as evidence for containing privileged mediation statements because the court unreasonably excluded the affidavit in its entirety, when it could have admitted a redacted version that omitted any statements considered privileged mediation communications....

United States Supreme Court 594 U.S. __ (2021). Click for full text Background In 1975, California enacted the Agricultural Labor Relations Act (“ALRA”), which, among other things, created the Agricultural Labor Relations Board (“the Board”). The Board enacted a regulation allowing union organizers access to agricultural employees at employer worksites under specific circumstances. Cedar Point Nursery operates a nursery that...

Utah Court of Appeals 2021 UT App 54 (Click for full text) The Utah Court of Appeals affirmed the district court’s decision regarding a residential boundary line which had been acquired by acquiescence.  Background. The Jensen property and the Hansen property share a deeded boundary line running north and south. In 1977 and 1983 — respectively — former owners of...

Utah Court of Appeals 2021 UT App 47 (Click for full text) The Utah Court of Appeals ruled that a property owner was not barred from challenging a stop-work notice that was previously the subject of court action litigated only between the County and a third-party neighbor, whereas the property owner had not been joined as a party to that...

Utah Court of Appeals 2020 UT App 174 (December 31, 2020) The Utah Court of Appeals upheld the Town’s denial of a conditional use permit for a parking under the Town’s standard that the proposed use not “unreasonably interfere with the lawful use of surrounding properties.” The Court of Appeals found that the Town had not misinterpreted “lawful use” to...

Utah Supreme Court 2020 UT 68 (October 22, 2020) The Utah Supreme Court upheld the dismissal of claims for inverse condemnation as barred by the statute of limitations. Background: Over 20 years ago, Duchesne County law enforcement seized property–including vehicles, guns, family photographs, and ammunition–belonging to Pinders, the appellants, as part of a murder investigation of their son. Most of...

Utah Court of Appeals October 16, 2020 2020 UT App 139 (Click for full text) The Utah Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal of Salt Lake City’s condemnation case seeking to acquire air rights over defendants’ property as an avigation easement in connection for a runway for one of its airports. While the Court held that the City had extraterritorial...

2020 UT 58 (August 17, 2020) The Utah Supreme Court affirmed a lower court decision that UDOT’s condemnation of land to mitigate environmental impacts of a transportation project was made under proper authority, regardless that the decision to condemn resulted from a settlement agreement to litigation over the project. The Court additionally reversed the lower court’s decision that the project’s...

Utah Court of Appeals 2020 UT App 108 (July 16, 2020) The Utah Court of Appeals overturned the lower court’s denial of a boundary by acquiescence claim that concluded the landowner could not have acquiesced to a fence as a boundary because the landowner’s intent was that the fence be built for animal containment and not as a boundary.  In...