Joint Resolution Amending the Utah Rules of Civil Procedure

Added a definition for 'district court panel' in Rule 1 to clarify that it refers to a group of three judges.

Added a new subsection to Rule 42 allowing the Attorney General, Governor, or Legislature to file a notice to convene a three-judge panel within 45 days of a case starting.

Established specific deadlines for requesting a change of judge as a matter of right, generally requiring a notice within seven days of assignment.

Added a coordination clause to ensure the changes to Rule 42 in this bill merge correctly with changes in a separate medical malpractice bill.

Added revisor instructions to replace placeholder text with the actual effective date when the bill is finalized.

The rule for consolidating cases was updated to require that motions be filed by parties to the actions without needing to seek permission to intervene, and it now specifies that a single case number must be used for all filings in a consolidated case.

New provisions were added allowing judges to reassign cases that cannot be administratively consolidated and permitting the severance of consolidated matters back into separate trials.

The deadline for requesting a transfer to the Business and Chancery Court was changed from 21 days to 30 days after a party appears in the case.

A reference to the 'transferee court' was corrected to 'receiving court' to improve clarity.

The effective date of the resolution was updated from February 12, 2026, to January 30, 2026.