Utah

Utah Supreme Court backs licensed paralegal practitioners

Corrected: The Utah Supreme Court has given the green light to allow licensed paralegal practitioners to help clients navigate the legal system, though the new professionals won’t be allowed to appear in court. The new LPP could help clients fill out legal forms, prepare settlements and represent them in mediated…

Dec 16, 2015 5:45 AM CST

Once a homeless teen herself, lawyer now offers pro bono advice to others

On the run at age 13 and homeless for three years after that, Nicole Lowe must have seemed an unlikely legal eagle to those who knew her at the time. But the onetime vagabond long ago turned her life around and is now both an attorney and the mother of…

Dec 15, 2015 5:00 PM CST

Judge in lesbian foster-parent case steps aside from further involvement

A Utah judge who ignited a firestorm of public criticism by setting a process in motion to remove a foster child from a same-sex couple, because they are not heterosexual, has now stepped aside from further involvement in the case. In a Monday order, 7th District Juvenile Judge Scott Johansen…

Nov 16, 2015 5:00 PM CST

Judge backpedals on controversial order removing foster child from married same-sex couple

A Utah judge has amended a controversial ruling issued earlier this week. It originally required the state to remove a foster child from the home of a same-sex married couple by Nov. 17 because they are not heterosexual. On Friday, 7th District Juvenile Judge Scott Johansen said April Hoagland and…

Nov 13, 2015 1:35 PM CST

Judge amends order that foster child be removed from married lesbian couple

Updated: In a Tuesday ruling that apparently took the state Division of Child and Family Services by surprise, a Utah judge said a baby must be removed from a licensed foster home because the married couple in the home are not heterosexual. There has been no issue concerning the quality…

Nov 12, 2015 5:45 AM CST

Judge temporarily preserves federal funds flowing to Planned Parenthood in Utah

A federal judge on Thursday extended a temporary restraining order that bars Utah’s governor from defunding Planned Parenthood in the state. U.S. District Judge Clark Waddoups said a decision would be issued later, but he refused to lift the order that keeps federal funds flowing through the state to Planned…

Oct 16, 2015 9:23 AM CDT

Wal-Mart employees fired for standing their ground against customers can sue, Utah court rules

Updated: Wal-Mart employees who don’t follow the company’s non-resistance policy when facing serious, imminent bodily harm by violent customers are protected from termination by state law, Utah’s top court has ruled. On Thursday, the Utah Supreme Court held that five employees who were fired for violating Wal-Mart’s policy of non-resistance…

Sep 21, 2015 11:15 AM CDT

Leader of fundamentalist church employed 1,400 in violation of wage law, feds say

The U.S. Department of Labor is bringing a civil enforcement action against the brother of imprisoned church leader Warren Jeffs. It contends that the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Lyle Jeffs and another defendant cheated some 1,400 children and adults out of nearly two years’ worth of…

Sep 11, 2015 4:30 PM CDT

Federal judge tells state to put same-sex spouses on birth certificate

Saying that there is no good argument for doing otherwise, a federal judge in Utah has ordered state officials to list both members of a married same-sex couple on the birth certificate for their child. Claiming that fatherhood was a “biological impossibility” for one woman, state officials had sought to…

Jul 16, 2015 2:00 PM CDT

Travelers beware: Tourist excesses are sparking new laws and stricter enforcement

It might seem like harmless fun. But throughout the world travelers need to beware of following impulses: They face an increased likelihood of fines or even jail for misbehavior as an epidemic of injuries, damage and violations of local standards caused by tourists’ antics are sparking new laws and stricter…

Jul 13, 2015 1:42 PM CDT

Charges change against former Utah AG Shurtleff; pay-to-play, law firm counts are dropped

Former Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff faces fewer criminal charges as a result of an amended filing by prosecutors on Monday. Davis County Attorney Troy Rawlings dropped three bribery counts that alleged a pay-to-play scheme, but added other charges, the Salt Lake Tribune reports. Shurtleff’s lawyer, Richard Van Wagoner, applauded…

Jun 16, 2015 10:04 AM CDT

Murderer who sent razor blade to judge won’t be charged; it was an accident

When a Utah judge received a razor blade in April along with a pro se filing from convicted murderer Ramon Somoza, an investigation ensued. But the 35-year-old won’t be charged with any new crime, prosecuting attorney Chad Grunander told the Salt Lake Tribune, because mailing the razor blade to 4th…

Jun 12, 2015 1:45 PM CDT

Utah mom gets up to life in slayings of 6 newborns found in garage

A Utah woman who pleaded guilty earlier this year to murder in the deaths of six newborns whose bodies were hidden in the garage of her home has been sentenced to as much as life in prison. In exchange for the plea by Meagan Huntsman, who is now 40, the…

Apr 20, 2015 4:15 PM CDT

Utah governor signs law allowing firing squads as execution backup method

Utah Gov. Gary Herbert on Monday signed into law a bill that authorizes the use of firing squads in executions if the state is unable to obtain lethal injection drugs. A spokesperson for Herbert, Marty Carpenter, said lethal injection is preferred, but when the drugs aren’t available, the executive branch…

Mar 24, 2015 7:17 AM CDT

Nude sunbather, 77, agrees to plea deal in case over his backyard practice

Thirty years of nude sunbathing in his own backyard ended Tuesday for a 77-year-old Utah man with a plea deal that requires him to don a swimsuit. Myron Lee Kipp hitherto had only a traffic ticket on his record from more than a decade ago, the Associated Press reports. His…

Mar 17, 2015 3:20 PM CDT