Utah Supreme Court hears argument on whether district-court termination orders are immediately appealable

The Utah Supreme Court heard argument on whether orders terminating parental rights entered in district-court adoption proceedings are final and immediately appealable or instead require a statutory exception or Federal Rule 54(b)-style certification.

Appellate counsel for the petitioners urged the court to treat a district-court order that terminates parental rights as final and appealable at the time the termination order is entered. Alexander Marshall, counsel for the appellants in Cracked v. Ross, told the court that “termination orders are always final” and argued the same finality principles that apply in juvenile court should apply in district-court adoption proceedings because a termination order “fully resolves the termination petition and resolves all of the claims as to all of the parties for that petition.” He told the court that treating termination orders as final avoids placing children in the position of an adoption being undone later if an underlying termination order is successfully challenged.

Appellees’ counsel Taylor Webb said she did not have substantive disagreement with recognizing practical concerns but asked that if the court were to change the…