1A Docket First Amendment · Utah
Anti-SLAPP · UPEPA
How a UPEPA motion worksService through appeal, with the deadlines that decide cases before the merits. The briefing sequenceWho files what, when, and what has to be in it. Statutes, bills, and votesOfficial text and legislative history for Utah's anti-SLAPP law and the rules that govern it.
Vexatious requester
How a vexatious requester petition worksFiling through judicial review, and the deadlines that run against you. Statutes, bills, and votesOfficial text and legislative history for the vexatious requester provision and the office that decides these cases.

Not legal advice

This describes how the process generally works. Deadlines in your case may differ. If something has been filed against you, talk to a lawyer.

Statutes, bills, and votes

Official text and legislative history for Utah's anti-SLAPP law and the rules that govern it.

Updated August 7, 2026 · Utah Code § 78B-25

Everything here links to the Legislature’s own site or the courts’, never to a summary. Bill pages carry sponsor, status, effective date, and the recorded floor and committee votes.

The statute
Enacted 2023

Uniform Public Expression Protection Act

Utah Code § 78B-25-101 through -115

Gives a defendant a special motion for expedited relief that stays the case, shifts the burden to the plaintiff, and makes the plaintiff pay if the motion succeeds. Utah was the fourth state to adopt the uniform act, after Washington, Kentucky, and Hawaii.

Enacted by
S.B. 18 (2023 General Session)
Sponsor
Sen. Curtis S. Bramble
Signed
March 23, 2023
Effective
May 3, 2023
Session law
Chapter 488
Full chapter text (PDF) § 102 scope § 103 the motion § 107 dismissal § 110 fees S.B. 18 bill page
The rules that govern it
The rule that traps people

The appeal deadline is in a court rule, not the statute

Utah R. App. P. 4(a)(2)

Section 78B-25-109 says only that an appeal is filed "in accordance with Rule 4." Rule 4's ordinary deadline is 30 days, but paragraph (a)(2) carves out UPEPA at 21 days. Reading the statute alone gets you the wrong number.

Rule 4 text Why it ended up in a rule
Briefing

Motions, oppositions, replies, and length limits

Utah R. Civ. P. 7

Sets the 14-day opposition, the 7-day reply, the objection rounds, the Request to Submit for Decision, and the page and word caps.

Rule 7 text The briefing sequence →
Fees

How a fee award is actually claimed

Utah R. Civ. P. 73

Section 110 says the court shall award fees to a prevailing movant, but the procedure lives here: the motion is due no later than 14 days after judgment, must specify the basis and amount, and must be supported by an affidavit giving the name, position, and hourly rate for each person who did the work.

Rule 73 text Where this falls in the sequence →
What it replaced
Repealed 2023

Citizen Participation in Government Act

Utah Code §§ 78B-6-1401 to -1405 · repealed May 3, 2023

Utah's previous anti-SLAPP law, passed in 2001 under the title "Prevention of Retaliatory Lawsuits." It reached only speech that qualified as participating in the process of government, which is why so much older Utah material describes a statute that no longer exists.

Enacted by
H.B. 112 (2001 General Session)
Sponsor
Rep. Rebecca D. Lockhart
Repealed
May 3, 2023, by S.B. 18
Original text (PDF)