J. Frederic Voros, Jr.

J. Frederic Voros, Jr.
Judge of the Utah Court of Appeals
Assumed office
December 17, 2009
Appointed by Gary Herbert
Preceded by Judith Billings

J. Frederic Voros, Jr. is a judge currently serving on the Utah Court of Appeals.[1] He is also an author.

Education

Voros received a bachelor's degree in English from Brigham Young University (BYU) in 1975. He later obtained a juris doctorate[2] from BYU's J. Reuben Clark Law School in 1979.[1]

Voros clerked for Dallin H. Oaks of the Utah Supreme Court. He later served as general counsel to Ricks College in Rexburg, Idaho from 1978 to 1981.[3] He taught appellate advocacy at the S.J. Quinney College of Law for ten years.[3] He practiced law with the Salt Lake City law firm of Prince, Yeates & Geldzahler, working with commercial litigation and later at the firm of Poole & Associates before joining the Criminal Appeals Division[4] of the Utah Attorney General's Office in 1991.[1] He worked at the Attorney General's office until he was appointed to the bench. In 2005 he received the Peter W. Billings Excellence in Teaching Award.[5]

Selected appeals from his time with the Attorney General's Office

State v. Casey, 2002 UT 29, 44 P.3d 756[6]

On November 3, 1999, the defendant, Patrick William Casey, was charged with aggravated sexual abuse of a child, a first degree felony. The prosecutor handling the defendant's case sent the victim, M.R., and his mother a letter explaining that the defendant requested a plea bargain. M.R.'s mother met with the prosecutor and obtained assurance that the first degree felony charge would not be reduced due to strong evidence against the defendant. Nevertheless, the prosecutor offered to reduce the charge to lewdness involving a child, a class A misdemeanor in exchange for a guilty plea, which the defendant accepted. M.R.'s mother, learning of the offer and the defendant's acceptance, contacted the prosecutor, expressing her desire to tell the district court how her family, including M.R., felt about the proposed plea. The prosecutor did not inform the district court that the victim's family wished to be heard at the change of plea hearing and the court proceeded with the defendant's change of plea, unaware of M.R.'s request. M.R. appealed the decision, claiming he had the right to be heard at the hearing. The court concluded that M.R. properly invoked his right to be heard by informing the prosecutor and even though the prosecutor failed to convey the request to the court, the error was eventually remedied and the plea was reaffirmed.

State v. Barrett, 2005 UT 88, 127 P.3d 682

Judicial career

Voros was appointed to the Utah Court of Appeals by Governor Gary Herbert in December 2009. His appointment came after the retirement of Judge Judith Billings, who had been on the court since 1982.[2] Of his appointment, Herbert stated, "Fred brings a great deal of knowledge and experience to the Utah Court of Appeals. He has significant experience in all areas of the law, especially at the appellate level, and will be a good complement to the six sitting judges."[7] He currently serves on the Supreme Court advisory Committee on the Rules of Appellate Procedure.[8] He previously chaired the Supreme Court Advisory Committee on the Rules of Professional Responsibility.[3]

Selected opinions

Fire Insurance Exchange v. Oltmanns, 2012 UT App 230, 285 P.3d 802[9]

Judge Voros wrote a concurring opinion discussing the propriety of citing Wikipedia as a source of authority in court opinions. The case dealt with the interpretation of the words “jet ski” in an insurance contract. Looking to Wikipedia and several dictionaries, the majority opinion concluded that the term “jet ski” was ambiguous and could refer either to all personal watercraft or only those of the stand-up variety. Judge Voros discussed the pitfalls and promise of using Wikipedia in such situations. Ultimately, he endorsed the use of Wikipedia to determine the common usage of words, with the caveat that the source should be viewed critically to guard against manipulation of Wikipedia entries for purposes of litigation.

Peterson v. Jackson, 2011 UT App 113, 253 P.3d 1096[10]

Jack W. Peterson, Alan D. Allred and D. Scott Jackson were the sole shareholders of the certified public accounting firm Peterson Allred Jackson. In 2006, conflicts developed among the partners with Peterson alleging that Allred and Jackson attempted to "freeze out, terminate, and destroy [Peterson's] equity, employment, management, and investment expectation." Peterson filed for dissolution after which Jackson and Allred elected to purchase Peterson's shares in lieu of dissolution. Peterson, who co-founded the firm with Allred in 1984, owned 36.37% of the company. The parties could not reach an agreement on a fair value of the shares and took the case to trial. Experts for both parties each determined values for Peterson's shares with Peterson's expert valuing them at $505,625 and the expert of the remaining shareholders valuing them at $224,639. The court determined a "fair value" of $459,000. Both sides appealed. Judges McHugh, Voros and Roth affirmed the court's decision.

Welsh v. Hospital Corp. of Utah, 2010 UT App 171, 235 P.3d 791[11]

CoBon Energy, LLC v. AGTC, Inc., 2011 UT App 330[12]

Writing

Voros wrote a children's book about the Salt Lake Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints entitled, The Stones of the Temple, along with illustrator Kathleen B. Peterson. It was published in 1993 by Deseret Book Company.[13][14]

Articles written by Voros:

References

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