The Supreme Court and the Judicial Council invite comments to proposed amendments to the following court rules. The comment period expires April 14, 2009.
Summary of proposed amendments
Audio Records of Hearings; Transcripts
The Judicial Council proposes the following amendments to the Code of Judicial Administration as part of its responsibility under Section 78A-2-405 to govern the manner in which the courts maintain the verbatim record of hearings. The Supreme Court proposes the following amendments to the Rules of Civil and Appellate Procedure governing the preparation of transcripts.
CJA 04-201. Record of proceedings. Amend. Eliminate requirements and standards for recording a court hearing by an official court reporter. Rely exclusively on audio video records.
CJA 03-305. Official court transcribers. Renumber and amend. Eliminate provisions for assignment of transcript preparation. Renumber as 5-202.
CJA 03-304. Official court reporters. Renumber and amend. Eliminate provisions regulating the office of official court reporter. Retain transcript format. Renumber as 5-203.
CJA 03-304.01. Substitute certified shorthand reporters. Repeal. Eliminate provisions for a substitute shorthand reporter.
URAP 11. The record on appeal. Amend. Request preparation of an official transcript through the appellate court clerk rather than the trial court executive.
URAP 12. Transmission of the record. Amend. Shifts responsibilities from the official court reporter to a court transcriber.
URAP 54. Transcript of proceedings. Amend. Request preparation of an official transcript through the appellate court clerk rather than the trial court clerk.
URCP 052. Findings by the court; correction of the record. Amend. Establishes a procedure for correcting the record of a hearing.
Code of Judicial Administration
CJA 03-102. Assumption of judicial office. Amend. Make applicable to judges of courts of record and not of record.
CJA 03-306. Court Interpreters. Repeal and Reenact. Clarifies the standards for appointing a certified, approved or conditionally approved interpreter. Improves the initial training requirements. Adds Guardianship and Conservatorship appointments to cases requiring a certified interpreter. Identifies the discipline process. Simplifies translation of forms. Permits hiring an interpreter as an employee.
CJA 04-801. Filing of small claims cases. Amend. Provide that the district court redirect small claims plaintiffs to justice court.
Rules Governing the Utah State Bar
USB 14-0510. Prosecution and appeals. Amend. The proposed amendments provide a right of appeal from an informal disciplinary proceeding, specify the rights of the complainant and respondent at the screening panel proceeding, and detail the exceptions and appeal procedures.
Rules of Evidence
URE 0701. Opinion testimony by lay witnesses. Amend. Adds to the required grounds for opinion testimony by a lay witness that the opinion is not based on specialized knowledge within the scope of Rule 702.
URE 0703 Bases of opinion testimony by experts. Amend. Prohibits inadmissible data used to form an expert opinion from being disclosed to the jury unless the probative value substantially outweighs the prejudicial effect.
Rules of Civil Procedure
URCP 076. Notice of contact information change. New. Requires attorneys and parties to inform the court of changes to contact information.
How to view redline text of the proposed amendments:
To see proposed rule amendments and submit comments, click on this link to: http://www.utcourts.gov/resources/rules/comments/. Then click on the rule number.
How to submit comments:
You can comment and view the comments of others by clicking on the "comments" link associated with each body of rules. It's more efficient for us if you submit comments through the website, and we encourage you to do so. After clicking on the comment link, you will be prompted for your name, which we request, and your email address and URL, which are optional. This is a public site. If you do not want to disclose your email address, omit it. Time does not permit us to acknowledge comments, but all will be considered.
Submit comments directly through the website or to:
Tim Shea
Email: tims@email.utcourts.gov Please include the comment in the message text, not in an attachment.
Fax: 801-578-3843
Administrative Office of the Courts
POB 140241
Salt Lake City, Utah 84114-0241
One method of submitting a comment is sufficient.