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 …
LD III LLC v. Mapleton City
2020 UT App 41 The Utah Court of Appeals held that a development agreement was unambiguous as to transferable development rights and that the city’s rezoning of the property was a legislative act and was validly reversed by referendum. A developer (original developer) entered into a development agreement with Mapleton City regarding 245 acres of undeveloped real estate on Mapleton’s …
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 …
Wallingford v. Moab City
2020 UT App 12 (January 24, 2020) (cert denied) The Utah Court of Appeals held that city, by adopting a zoning status agreement without public hearing, committed an unlawful act of contract zoning. A developer just outside of Moab proposed a mixed use residential, commercial, and hotel development. The landowner and City entered into a pre-annexation agreement to facilitate annexation …
Lech v. Jackson
United States 10th Circuit Court of Appeals 791 Fed. Appx. 711, 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 32393 (cert denied) The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals held that the destruction of a home by police officers attempting to apprehend a criminal suspect was not a taking under the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution. The Lechs owned a home for their …
Metro. Water Dist. of Salt Lake & Sandy v. SHCH Alaska
2019 UT 62 (October 16, 2019) The Utah Supreme Court held that a water district, which owned an easement across land owned by a state trust, had no authority to regulate the trust’s use of its property. Metro Water District owns an easement across land owned by SHCH Alaska Trust (Alaska), which gives it a right to enter Alaska’s 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 …
Bridge BLOQ NAC LLC v. Sorf
2019 UT App 132, 447 P.3d 1278 (Aug. 1, 2019) The Utah Court of Appeals adopted a test for defining the scope of an implied easement, which is determined by looking at the parties’ probable expectations at the time of severance. Bridge and Sorf own adjoining properties separated by a paved alley. The alley is on Bridge’s property. Both properties …
