Court Opinion

ID: 9633086
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 11:33:28.140956+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:08:28.913527
License: Public Domain

ORME, Associate Presiding Judge
(dissenting):
I dissent. I believe UVCC waived whatever objections it had to Snuffer’s second affidavit when, unlike with respect to the first affidavit, it did not move to strike, or otherwise object to, the later affidavit.
Rule 56 of the Utah Rules of Civil Procedure provides that affidavits filed in connection with summary judgment motions “shall be made on personal knowledge, shall set forth such facts as would be admissible in evidence, and shall show affirmatively that the affiant is competent to testify to the matters stated therein.” Utah R.Civ.P. 56(e). However, Utah case law has uniformly required that a party who sees deficiencies in a Rule 56 affidavit move to strike the affidavit or object to it in some equivalent way; otherwise, any objection is waived and the averments of the affidavit are properly before the court.1 See, e.g., D & L Supply v. Sawrini, 775 P.2d 420, 421 (Utah 1989); Hobelman Motors, Inc. v. Allred, 685 P.2d 544, 546 (Utah 1984); Franklin Fin. v. New Empire Dev. Co., 659 P.2d 1040, 1043-4 (Utah 1983); Strange v. Ostlund, 594 P.2d 877, 880 (Utah 1979); Howick v. Bank of Salt Lake, 28 Utah 2d 64, 498 P.2d 352, 353-54 (1972); Fox v. Allstate Ins. Co., 22 Utah 2d 383, 453 P.2d 701, 702-03 (1969); Salt Lake City Corp. v. James Constructors, Inc., 761 P.2d 42, 46 (Utah App.1988). Such deficiencies can be as technical (but basic) as the failure to have an affidavit notarized; if objection is not interposed before the trial court, it is waived. See Hobelman Motors, 685 P.2d at 546. But such deficiencies are not limited to matters of form. As stated by the Utah Supreme Court, “if, on a motion for summary judgment, an opposing party fails to move to strike defective affidavits, he is deemed to have waived his opposition to whatever evi-dentiary defects may eidst.” Franklin Fin., 659 P.2d at 1044- (emphasis added). I find unpersuasive the main opinion’s effort to treat questions of the competency of evidence for purposes of the mailing statute, Utah Code Ann. § 63-37-1 (1993), as somehow different from “evidentiary defects” contemplated by Rule 56. After all, competency is one of the matters specifically dealt with in Rule 56. See Utah R.Civ.P. 56(e) (“Supporting and opposing affidavits shall be made on personal knowledge, shall set forth such facts as would be admissible in evidence, and shall show affirmatively that the affiant is competent to testify to the matters stated therein.”).
In this case, the fair import of Snuffer’s second affidavit is that plaintiffs notice of claim was prepared on November 25 or 26, *9431991, and that a copy, addressed to the Utah Attorney General, was deposited by Snuffer’s secretary to the United States Mail on November 26 or 27. The problem with Snuffer’s affidavit is that he testifies to matters that are not within his personal knowledge, but rather that of his secretary. However, lack of personal knowledge is the very kind of thing that must be first assailed in a motion to strike. See, e.g., Franklin Fin., 659 P.2d at 1043^4 (where no motion to strike, objection to affidavits based on, inter alia, a lack of personal knowledge was waived); Fox, 453 P.2d at 702-03 (“By failing to move to strike the affidavit ..., the plaintiff waived the'right to show whether the affiant knew first handed that about which he deposed.”).
Absent a motion to strike or an equivalent objection, the second affidavit stands admitted and the statements made therein are taken as true. The objections now made to the evidentiary foundations for the admittedly conelusory statements in the affidavit have been waived. Flawed though it may be in an ultimate sense, the affidavit thus sets forth facts that create a material dispute about whether notice was sent to the Attorney General. Accordingly, I would reverse the summary judgment on this basis and remand for trial.

. We have previously noted that the failure to object to summaiy judgment affidavits can result from a "calculated risk” as well as an "oversight.” Salt Lake City Corp. v. James Constructors, Inc., 761 P.2d 42, 46 n. 8 (Utah App.1988). This is because the upshot of a well-taken motion to strike is usually not just the striking of the affidavit; the striking is typically accompanied by an opportunity on the proffering party’s part to submit an affidavit free of the problems objected to. See id. Of course, such a scenario is consistent with "the end that the truth may be ascertained and proceedings justly determined.” Utah R.Evid. 102. Nonetheless, counsel may sometimes prefer to take their chances that no appeal will be taken or, if one is, that the lack of a motion to strike will go unnoticed or be glossed over by the appellate court.