Burningham v. Ott

In Burningham v. Ott, 525 P.2d 620, 623 (Utah 1974), the plaintiff apparently promised the defendant that the defendant's stock in the plaintiff's company would increase in value. The plaintiff sued for fraud, but the court granted summary judgment, which was affirmed on appeal. Id. at 620-22. In a separate opinion discussing why "summary judgments should be invoked with caution and restraint," Justice Crockett stated, "[Utah's founding fathers were fully aware that access to the courts for the settlement of controversies is essential to the peace and good order of society." Id. at 623. He then recited article I, section 11 and continued, "The carrying out of this constitutional assurance requires that any person who has, or thinks he has, a right to protect or a wrong to rectify, be entitled to go to court and air his grievance and have the difficulty resolved by the peaceable process of justice." Id.