Guides
General information about Utah law. Not legal advice.
How a vexatious requester petition works
Filing through judicial review, and the deadlines that run against a respondent.
The agency files a petition with the director
- It must give the respondent’s name, phone, mailing address, and email as submitted to the agency, describe the conduct it claims makes the respondent vexatious, state the relief it wants, and include a sworn or unsworn declaration.
- The agency must send the respondent a copy the same day it files.
A hearing is scheduled
- Set for the next regular hearing date at least 16 calendar days out, and no more than 64 calendar days after the petition was filed.
- It can be pushed later if that is the first date with fewer than 10 appeals on the calendar, or moved sooner if the agency asks for an expedited hearing and shows good cause.
Requests to intervene close
- Someone whose legal interests may be substantially affected may ask to intervene, but not later than this.
The written statement is due
- A respondent may submit a written statement responding to the petition, to both the director and the agency.
- It can be the same document as any response filed to an initial determination.
- Everything the agency has said stands unless it is answered.
Silence does not slow anything down
- If no statement is filed and the respondent does not appear, the director either cancels the hearing or holds it without them.
- Either way the decision clock still runs from the date the hearing was set for. In general, not participating buys no time; it only leaves the agency's evidence unanswered.
- In Tooele City v. Sullivan, the respondent did neither, and the record notes the evidence was accepted at face value.
The hearing
- The agency may testify, present evidence, and comment on the issues. A respondent who appears may do the same.
- The director may let other interested people comment.
- There is no discovery. The director may issue subpoenas to compel testimony or evidence, and may ask a district court to enforce them.
The order
- Granted or denied, in whole or in part.
- The order must give reasons; if granted, it must describe the specific conduct found vexatious, including any abuse of the right of access or substantial interference with operations.
- It must also state that judicial review is available, summarize that process and its time limits, and note that an attorney may be worth consulting.
the order
The agency must keep answering requests
Requests continue to be processed as they were before.
The agency may seek judicial review of the denial, the same as a respondent could.
Cut off for up to a year
The agency is relieved of any duty to fulfill the respondent’s requests for up to one year. § 209(8)(b)
The order also reaches anyone who submits a request on the respondent’s behalf.
Requests covered by the order cannot be appealed the ordinary way under Part 4. § 209(11)
Judicial review, and the 30 days that are easy to lose
Either side may petition a district court for review within 30 days of the order. §§ 63G-2-209(10), 63G-2-404(1)(a)
That clock is suspended while the Government Records Ombudsman mediates, from the day mediation is requested until the ombudsman certifies it is concluded or did not happen. § 63G-2-404(1)(b)
The petition is a complaint under the Rules of Civil Procedure and must attach the order being appealed.
Recovering attorney fees is rare
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. § 63G-2-209(10)(b)
All three need to be met, not any one of them. Governmental immunity does not bar the claim.
No published decision reflects such an award.
The law does not say what bad faith means here, and a 2026 bill may have changed it. See What counts as bad faith?