Building Monitoring Systems, Inc. v. Paxton

After tenants Michael Paxton and Amy Lowder (defendants) reported unrepaired housing code violations to the Health Department, their landlord, Building Monitoring Systems (plaintiff), received an order to make repairs and instead served an eviction notice — then reinstated the tenancy after accepting the tenants' next month's rent. When the tenants complained again and the landlord received a second Health Department notice, it served another eviction notice the very next day; when the tenants refused to leave, the landlord filed an unlawful detainer action, and the tenants raised retaliatory eviction as a defense. The trial court found the eviction was in fact retaliatory but refused to recognize the defense because Utah had never previously adopted it.