Author: Utah Courts

Rules of Civil Procedure – Effective May 1, 2021

The Notice Amendments below reference required new forms. The forms may be found at the bottom of the Utah Rules of Civil Procedure webpage, as follows:

Judicial Council Approved Bilingual Notices to Responding Party
  • 7101GE Bilingual Notice to Responding Party for Motions – PDF | Word
  • 7015GE Bilingual Notice to Responding Party for In-State Summons – PDF | Word
  • 7016GE Bilingual Notice to Responding Party for Out-of-State Summons – PDF | Word
  • 7017GE Bilingual Notice to Responding Party for Ten Day Summons – PDF | Word
  • 7027GE Bilingual Notice to Responding Party for Summons for Publication – PDF | Word
  • 7105EV Bilingual Notice to Responding Party for Eviction Summons – PDF | Word

The Notice Amendments also now require caution language on some documents. Sample forms containing caution language are below:

SAMPLE FORMS

Notice Amendments

As a whole, the amendments to Rules 4, 7, 8, 36, and 101 require more notice to parties of their rights and obligations.

URCP004. Process. AMEND. The notice amendments to Rule 4(c)(1) require that the Judicial Council-approved bilingual notice of rights be included with the summons.

URCP007. Pleadings allowed; motions, memoranda, hearings, orders. AMEND. The notice amendments to Rule 7(c) require caution language on the first page of all dispositive motions. It also requires the inclusion of the Judicial Council-approved bilingual notice of rights and provides consequences for failing to include them.

URCP008. General rules of pleadings. AMEND. The notice amendments to Rule 8(a) require caution language on the first page of all pleadings requesting relief and provide consequences for failing to do so.

URCP036. Request for admission. AMEND. The notice amendments to Rule 36(b) require caution language on the first page of all requests for admission and provides consequences for failing to do so.

URCP101. Motion practice before court commissioners. AMEND. The notice amendments to Rule 101(a) require caution language on the first page of all motions to court commissioners. It also requires the inclusion of the Judicial Council-approved bilingual notice of rights and provides consequences for failing to include them.

Service of Process Amendments

URCP004. Process. AMEND. The service of process amendments to Rule 4 address service on minors in paragraph (d)(1)(B) and outline the requirements for electronic acceptance of service in paragraph (d)(3)(B).

Supplemental Proceedings Amendments

URCP007A. Motion to enforce order and for sanctions. NEW

URCP007B. Motion to enforce order and for sanctions in domestic law matters. NEW

URCP007. Pleadings allowed; motions, memoranda, hearings, orders. AMEND.  

Rules 7A and 7B create a new, uniform process for enforcing court orders through regular motion practice. They replace the current order to show cause process found in Rule 7(q) and in local court rules. Rule 7B addresses the domestic law order to show cause process.

Supreme Court Order

 

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Code of Judicial Administration – Effective May 1, 2021

CJA03-0101. Judicial performance standards. (AMEND). Establishes a definition of “submitted” for purposes of the case under advisement performance standard. Clarifies that judges will be considered compliant with education and case under advisement standards if their failure to meet one or both of those standards was due to circumstances outside of the judge’s control.

CJA03-0108. Judicial assistance. (AMEND). Authorizes the presiding officer of the Judicial Council to appoint a district court presiding judge as the signing judge for automatic expungements in all district courts within the presiding judge’s district.

Judicial Council Order

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Rules of Professional Conduct – Effective May 1, 2021

Changes merge the attorney Rules of Professional Conduct and the LPP Rules of Professional Conduct into one set of rules. Currently, there are two nearly identical sets of Rules of Professional Conduct for each type of licensee. One set of rules is more efficient and makes changes and updates to the rules simpler and more uniform.

Preamble: A Lawyer’s Responsibilities.

RPC01.00. Terminology.

RPC01.01. Competence.

RPC01.02. Scope of representation and allocation of authority between client and lawyer. Licensed paralegal practitioner notice to be displayed.

RPC01.05. Fees.

RPC04.02.  Communication for Persons Represented by Legal Professionals.

RPC06.01.  Voluntary Pro Bono Legal Service.

Supreme Court Order

 

 

 

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Rules of Appellate Procedure – Effective May 1, 2021

URAP034. Costs. Amend. The amendments to Rule 34: (1) provide a flat rate of $3.00 per page for costs in 34(c)(1); (2) change dates throughout the rule to increments of seven; (3) replace the term “taxed” with “awarded” throughout the rule; (4) comport the rule with Standing Order 11 (regarding filing documents by email); and (5) clean up other language for clarity and consistency.

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Rules of Professional Conduct – Effective February 5, 2021, and Rules of Civil Procedure – Effective May 1, 2021

RULES OF PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT

RPC05.07. Responsibilities Regarding Law-Related Services. TECHNICAL AMENDMENT. Brings the rule in line with recent advertising rule amendments by amending Comment [10]. Effective February 5, 2021. 

Supreme Court Order for RPC 5.7

RULES OF CIVIL PROCEDURE

URCP065C. Post-conviction relief. AMEND. Addresses service of post-conviction petitions and the underlying court record. Effective May 1, 2021. 

Supreme Court Order for URCP 65C

 

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Rules of Civil Procedure, Rules of Criminal Procedure, Rules of Appellate Procedure, and Rules of Professional Conduct – Effective May 1, 2021

Rules of Civil Procedure

URCP083. AMEND. The proposed amendments would bring represented parties into the rule’s purview. They would also permit any court to rely on another court’s vexatious litigant findings and order their own restrictions. Paragraph (e)(1) was updated to fix a grammatical error.  

Rules Governing Constitutional Challenges

The following amendments to Civil Rule 24,Criminal Rule 12, and Appellate Rule 25A  are intended to better coordinate the provisions addressing constitutional challenges. The amendments do the following:

  • Address service on the Attorney General and other governmental entities;
  • Broaden the kinds of challenges that may arise;
  • Clarify that it is the governmental entity that responds, not the county or municipal attorney (which can be a contracted position in certain jurisdictions);
  • Eliminate outdated language in Civil Rule 24 in favor of the updated federal language;
  • Clarify in each rule the process and timing for the Attorney General or other governmental entity to respond to a constitutional challenge; and
  • Eliminate the requirement in Appellate Rule 25A that the Attorney General state the reasons for declining to file an amicus brief.

URCP024 – Redline and URCP024 – Clean

URCrP012 – Redline

URAP025A – Redline

Rules of Professional Conduct

RPC05.04. Professional Independence of a Lawyer. AMEND. Adds a clarifying comment to the rule.

Supreme Court Order for Civil Rules 83 and 24

Supreme Court Order for Criminal Rule 12

Supreme Court Order for Appellate Rule 25A

Supreme Court Order for Rules of Professional Conduct Rule 5.4

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Rules of Professional Conduct of the Rules Governing the Utah State Bar – Effective January 19, 2021

RPC06.05.  Short-term Limited Legal Services. AMEND. Broadens the term “short-term legal services” to include one-time consultations and representations through government- and law school-sponsored programs. Further provides that other lawyers in a firm are not disqualified from representing clients whose interests are adverse to a client who received short-term limited legal services from a lawyer in the firm if (1) the lawyer who provided the services is timely screened from the adverse clients’ matters, and (2) receives no fees from those matters.

Supreme Court Order

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