Utah Gov. Spencer J. Cox has appointed Charles Stormont to the Third District Court bench.
The third district includes Summit, Salt Lake and Tooele counties. Stormont’s appointment is to fill the vacancy left by Judge Amy Oliver, who formerly served in Salt Lake County before going on to the Utah Court of Appeals.
Stormont is the director of right of way and property management for the Utah Department of Transportation and sits on the Utah State Bar Third District Pro Bono Commission, the Utah Judicial Council’s Standing Committee on Resources for Self-Represented Parties and the Utah State Bar Access to Justice Commission.
Stormont received a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Davidson College and his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law.
The Utah Senate must now confirm Stormont for him to serve in Third District Court.
If confirmed, Stormont may serve in Salt Lake County, but not necessarily. Another judge from the third district could rotate over and Stormont would go elsewhere.
One of those locations could be the Silver Summit Courthouse in Summit County. State courts officials say Silver Summit is well-staffed right now, but the courthouse has recently seen more high-profile cases than usual. Currently, Kouri Richins is on trial for the murder of her husband Eric, and in March, it’s where Gwyneth Paltrow won a civil case about a Deer Valley ski crash.
Both cases have garnered significant national media attention.
