Arizona Supreme Court Decisions 2021

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the trial court in Plaintiffs' favor on their common law negligence claims and their dram shop liability claim against JAI Dining Services (Phoenix) Inc., holding that the trial…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the order of the juvenile court terminating the parent-child relationship of Father to his four children, holding that while the juvenile court misapplied two factors set forth in Michael J. v.…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the court of appeals upholding the decision of the Arizona Corporation Commission to consolidate several communities into a single service district, gradually increasing rates…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court held in this case that a crime victim has a constitutional and statutory right to be heard on the merits of a defendant's motion for a delayed appeal of a restitution order. Defendant was convicted of…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court held that Arizona's open-meeting and conflict-of-interest laws broadly confer standing based upon a claimant's interest in preserving the values of transparency and accountability that the laws…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court held that a hospital may not directly recover from a third party the costs of uncompensated medical care provided to patients whose need for treatment the third party allegedly caused because the…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court accepted a question certified to it by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and answered that Arizona has not consented to damages liability for a state agency's violation of the…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court held that the direct funding provision of Proposition 208 did not fall within the constitutional definition of grants in Ariz. Const. art. IX, 21 (the Education Expenditure Clause) and was therefore…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reversed the order of the trial court denying a motion to compel arbitration, holding that a fee agreement between a client and her attorney, especially where the attorney agrees to advance the costs of…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court vacated the opinion of the court of appeals affirming the decision of the trial court summarily denying relief as to Petitioner's petition for post-conviction relief and affirmed the trial court's…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the trial court's grant of summary judgment in favor of the Deer Valley Unified School District on Plaintiff's negligence claims based on the off-campus murder of her daughter, a student at…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court held that Specialty Companies Group, LLC's claims under an alter ego theory against Meritage Homes of Arizona were time-barred under Ariz. Rev. Stat. 12-548(A)(1)'s six-year limitation period for claims…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court held that a jury in a medical malpractice case may not be left to "infer" causation without the guidance of expert testimony where the cause of death is disputed and not obvious to an ordinary…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the order of the superior court dismissing Father's paternity action, holding that an untimely filed paternity action is barred as a matter of law. Shortly after Child was born, Mother served…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court held that Ariz. R. Crim. P. 7.2(c), which addresses a defendant's right to release after a conviction but before the defendant is sentenced, applies to a release determination required under Ariz. R.…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed Defendant's conviction of resisting arrest, holding that neither federal or Arizona Batson jurisprudence requires a trial court to expressly address a demeanor-based justification when two…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed in part and reversed in part the trial court's denial of Defendant's motion to dismiss this lawsuit brought by Plaintiff, an electric representative in the Arizona House of Representatives,…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the order of the trial court granting Rasean Clayton's application for a temporary and permanent injunction enjoining Kanye West and his presidential electors from appearing on the general…

Justia Opinion Summary: In this issue concerning whether Defendant was precluded from seeking collateral review of a matter he could have raised during his direct appeal the Supreme Court affirmed the order of the trial court denying…

Justia Opinion Summary: In this matter concerning vicarious disqualification of a prosecutor's office, the Supreme Court held that a trial court has broad discretion to vicariously disqualify a prosecutor's office based on an appearance of…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court vacated the order of the trial court declining to exercise its discretion to deny a sexually violent person (SVP) screening when the State requested one under Ariz. Rev. Stat. 13-4518(A), holding that…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the court of appeals vacating Defendant's conviction and sentences and remanding for a new trial, holding that the trial court did not adequately confirm that Defendant waived…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reversed the judgment of the post-conviction court granting Defendant post-conviction relief (PCR) on the ground that counsel's ineffectiveness challenged Defendant, holding that Defendant's lawyers…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court held that Ariz. Rev. Stat. 28-672(G), which limits the amount of restitution that can be awarded to a victim for an unconstitutional limitation on the right to receive restitution or a valid legislative…

Justia Opinion Summary: In this special action challenging the trial court's ruling that Defendant's due process rights required disclosure of the victim's privileged records for in-camera review, the Supreme Court held that the trial court did…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court held that Ariz. Rev. Stat. 16-204.01 cannot apply to require a city to consolidate local elections with state and national elections if the city's charter provides otherwise. Section 16-204.01 requires…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the trial court disqualifying the "Stop Surprise Billing and Protect Patients Act" ballot initiative (the Initiative) from the November 2020 general election ballot, holding…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court vacated the decisions of the court of appeals affirming Defendants' convictions of aggravated assault, holding that the prosecutor's misstatement of the reasonable-doubt standard during a rebuttal…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court vacated the decision of the court of appeals reversing Defendant's conviction of sexual assault, holding that the court of appeals improperly reversed the conviction on the ground that DNA evidence was…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court held that a plaintiff does not have to allege bad faith or rebut the good faith presumption in his complaint asserting a claim of negligent disclosure of medical information in order to withstand a…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court set aside the decision of administrative law judge (ALJ) for the Industrial Commission of Arizona (ICA) denying the claim for benefits filed by deputy John France, who developed post-traumatic stress…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court answered a question certified by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit by holding that, under a policy without a contractual duty to defend, the objective reasonableness of an…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the ruling of the trial court finding that Javier Soto, a candidate for the Democratic Party's nomination for the Arizona House of Representatives in Legislative District 3, obtained enough…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court held that the City of Peoria violated Ariz. Const. art. IX, section 7, the Gift Clause, by spending public funds to induce a private university to open a branch campus in Peoria. In 2015, Huntington…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed Defendant's convictions, holding that neither the United States nor the Arizona Constitution requires a search warrant or court order for a law enforcement officer to obtain either a user's…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the order of the trial court granting summary judgment for Defendants in this premises liability case, holding that the trial court did not err. Plaintiff was injured when he fell though a…