F.L. v. Court of Appeals
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The Supreme Court reversed the decision of the court of appeals construing F.L.'s motion to intervene in David Chadwick's appeal from his sexual abuse of a child conviction as a motion to file an amicus brief under Utah R. App. P. 25 and allowing her thirty days to file the amicus brief, holding that F.L. should be allowed to proceed as a limited purpose party to assert her privacy interests.
F.L. was the alleged victim of the sex crimes charged against Chadwick. During proceedings below, the court granted Chadwick's request to conduct an in camera review of F.L.'s therapy and counseling records. The court then sealed the records, and Chadwick was convicted. On appeal, the court of appeals first unsealed F.L.'s records and allowed Chadwick to make use of those records and then granted F.L.'s request to reseal her records and strike all references to the records in Chadwick's supply brief. When Chadwick argued on appeal that the sealing order violated his rights F.L. moved to intervene as a limited-purpose party to assert her privacy interests. The court of appeals construed the motion as a request for leave to file an amicus brief and granted it. The Supreme Court granted extraordinary relief, holding that the court of appeals made a mistake of law in not allowing F.L. to intervene as a limited-purpose party.
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