Utah lawmakers approve bill after 'egregious' Supreme Court ruling on first responders

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah lawmakers delivered a bipartisan rebuke of the state Supreme Court on Wednesday by approving a bill in response to a recent ruling on first responders.

That August ruling from the Utah Supreme Court declared that Unified Fire Authority is not immune from a lawsuit stemming from a 911 call its emergency medical technicians responded to.

Now lawmakers are pushing back. The Utah Government Operations Interim Committee unanimously approved a proposal from House Majority Leader Casey Snider, R-Paradise, which states that first responders are subject to governmental immunity, which protects them from lawsuits for doing their jobs. The bill now moves forward to be considered during the upcoming general session in January.

"Judges should interpret the law," Snider said. "Interpreting the law requires actually reading the law."

What was the lawsuit about?

The lawsuit that led to the Supreme Court ruling was filed by Jorge Armenta, who said he called 911 one day after having shortness of breath and chest pain but was told by emergency medical technicians that "everything looked normal."

A week later, Armenta said he suffered a "massive heart attack" due to a blocked artery, and he sued Unified Fire for negligence. A district court judge found Unified Fire was not liable, but the Supreme Court reversed that and sent the issue back to the lower court.

Snider, who also works as a volunteer firefighter, was outraged by the ruling, calling it "judicial incompetence" and "judicial activism."

"Our Supreme Court has made our communities less safe," he told fellow lawmakers during the committee hearing Wednesday morning.

Snider said Utah law is already clear that first responders who provide emergency medical assistance are subject to immunity and protected from lawsuits. But the Supreme Court disagreed, suggesting that's only the case during a "disastrous — or potentially disastrous — event."

"The egregious ruling that our court gave us is so bad that, in essence, what it says is — if you are providing CPR to someone — as long as there's a dam breaking, you're covered," Snider said. "But if there's no dam breaking, well, then you're liable for a potential lawsuit."

Firefighters' reaction

Jack Tidrow, a Salt Lake firefighter and president of Professional Firefighters of Utah, said the court's ruling surprised him. He also defended the performance of the Unified Fire emergency medical technicians at the center of the lawsuit.

"Everybody's job is hard enough the way it is," Tidrow said. "They don't need to be concerned if they're going to be liable for doing their job the right way."

Snider's bill specifies that first responders are immune from lawsuits for doing their jobs, not just in disasters. The bill is retroactive to November 2021, which would cover those who responded to Armenta's 911 call.

The bill received universal support during Wednesday's hearing and passed unanimously. Lawmakers are expected to quickly pass it during the general session and send it to the governor's desk.

"We want our people to be confident they can go out and focus on doing the job and not have to worry on the back side about being attacked or possibly sued," Tidrow said.

Simmering frustration

While this issue focused specifically on first responders, it also reflected a growing tension between the Republican-controlled Legislature and the courts. House and Senate Republicans have been upset with several high-profile rulings, including one dealing with the initiative process that ultimately led to the adoption of a new congressional map.

The divide between the two branches of government was notably on display earlier this year when hundreds of attorneys and legal professionals urged the Legislature to reject bills they said threatened judicial independence and injected partisan politics into the legal process.

During Wednesday's hearing on Snider's bill, Republican frustration with the courts was still evident.

"I'm concerned that this was missed by five justices and that they opined on it unanimously," said Sen. Brady Brammer, R-Pleasant Grove, speaking of the ruling on first responders and the current state law. "That's a big red flag on our Supreme Court and whether they're actually interpreting statute or just starting out with lip service and then doing what they want."

However, this particular issue brought together both Republicans and Democrats, who unanimously approved Snider's bill.

Attorneys for Armenta, who filed the initial lawsuit against Unified Fire, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from KSL-TV about lawmakers' actions.

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