1A Docket First Amendment · Utah

Third District, then Utah Supreme Court · 160904365 / 20180601

Salt Lake Tribune and Piper v. State Records Committee

No ruling on the merits Judicial review

Forum
Third District, then Utah Supreme Court
Case number
160904365 / 20180601
Decided
Dec 4, 2019
Outcome
No ruling on the merits
Underlying case
Closed at the Supreme Court. Decided December 4, 2019; remanded without deciding the certified question.

What the court held

  • Tribune reporter Matthew Piper sought BYU Police records while the paper investigated how the university handled reports of sexual abuse. The department withheld one category of records.
  • The State Records Committee held BYU Police was not a governmental entity and denied the appeal for lack of jurisdiction. The district court disagreed and granted the Tribune summary judgment; BYU took an interlocutory appeal, which the Court of Appeals certified up.
  • While the appeal was pending the Legislature amended GRAMA to define private university police departments as governmental entities. The court declined to decide the obsolete question and remanded.

Docket · filings

1 filing
Dec 4, 2019Utah Supreme Court
The opinionSupreme Court opinion
PDF
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