2020 UT 23 (May 8, 2020) Subsequent history at SRB Investment v. Spencer (SRB II), 2023 UT App 120 Background. SRB Investment Co. (SRB) purchased property to use as a cabin vacation spot for its members. Access to the property by prescriptive easement across the Spencer property had been established by the previous owner for ranching and farming purposes. When …
Harrison v. SPAH Family Ltd.
2020 UT 22 (May 8, 2020) Background. Since August 1996 a family used a road that went across a neighboring property, to access their cabin property. In June 2016, the landowner of the neighboring property told the family that they could no longer use the road and attempted to block access to it. However, the family continued to use the …
UDOT v. Target Corp.
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 …
WDIS v. Hi-Country Estates (WDIS I)
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 …
Knick v. Twp. of Scott
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 …
Metro. Water Dist. of Salt Lake & Sandy v. Sorf
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 …
Ferre v. Salt Lake City
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. …
Outfront Media, LLC v. Salt Lake City
Utah Supreme Court October 23, 2017 2017 UT 74 (Click for text of opinion) The Utah Supreme Court upheld Salt Lake City’s (“Salt Lake” or the “City”) decision to deny Outfront Media’s (“CBS”) request to relocate its billboard. CBS applied to relocate its billboard to an adjacent lot along I-15 in Salt Lake because its ground lease was about to expire. …
Alpine Homes v. West Jordan
Several real estate developers sued the City of West Jordan alleging the City violated the Utah Impact Fees Act by failing to spend fees collected from the developers on specified categories of expenditures within six years. The developers sought to have misspent or unspent fees refunded because the violation either constituted an unconstitutional taking or created entitlement to a refund …
Anderson v. Fautin
Utah Supreme Court May 31, 2016 2016 UT 22 (Click for text of opinion) In this case, the Utah Supreme Court clarified that in a boundary by acquiescence dispute only the claimant must occupy his or her property up to the new boundary line. The court also outlined the policy reasons behind this clarification of the boundary by acquiescence doctrine. Anderson …