Guides
General information about Utah law. Not legal advice.
What it costs, and who pays
Whether you can recover your fees, and whether you can be made to pay theirs.
The two proceedings this site tracks answer the money question in opposite directions. Knowing which one you are in changes what fighting is worth. Each question below is answered for one proceeding at a time.
If you win, does the other side pay your lawyer?
Yes. The court shall award a prevailing moving party court costs, reasonable attorney fees, and reasonable litigation expenses related to the motion. That is mandatory language, not a factor the court weighs.
How far it reaches was narrowed in 2026. In Aston v. Chronicle-Progress, a district court awarded roughly $394,000 covering essentially all the work in the case. The Utah Supreme Court reversed, holding that "related to the motion" means only work reasonably necessary to prosecute the special motion. Keep your time entries in a form that separates the two.
If you lose, do you owe theirs?
Not automatically. A responding party recovers fees only if it prevails and the court finds the motion was frivolous or filed solely to delay the proceeding. Losing a motion made in good faith does not trigger a fee award against you.
§ 78B-25-110What is it costing you while the judge decides?
The rest of the case pauses. Once you file the motion, the rest of the case stops until the judge rules on it. Neither side has to hand over documents, answer written questions, or sit for sworn interviews. That stage is called discovery, and in most lawsuits it costs more than any other part. You still have to pay your own lawyer to write the motion. What you avoid is paying for discovery at the same time.
§ 78B-25-104(1)If you beat the petition, can you get your fees back?
Only by proving three separate things at once. A court may award a respondent reasonable attorney fees only if the respondent substantially prevails and the court finds all three of the following: the petition was without merit; the agency's actions in filing it lacked a reasonable basis in fact or law; and the agency filed it in bad faith.
All three, not any one. Governmental immunity does not bar the claim. No published decision reflects such an award.
§ 63G-2-209(10)(b)The law does not say what bad faith means here, and a 2026 bill may have changed it. See What counts as bad faith?
If you lose, what does it cost you?
Not money. Access. The statute's fee provision runs one direction only. What you lose is access: the agency is relieved of any duty to answer your requests for up to a year, and the order also reaches anyone who submits a request on your behalf.
§ 63G-2-209(8)(b), (10)(b)Is there a free step before any of this?
Yes. The Government Records Ombudsman mediates records disputes at no cost. Requesting mediation suspends the 30-day clock for judicial review, from the day you ask until the ombudsman certifies that mediation concluded or did not occur.
§ 63G-2-404(1)(b)Taking a records decision to court is a separate question. This page covers UPEPA motions and vexatious requester petitions. What a requester can recover after winning a records case in district court is set out in Judicial review and fees, and the organizations that take these cases are in Where to get help.