Holmberg may be best known for presiding over the high-profile 2023 civil suit involving Gwyneth Paltrow and a Salt Lake City optometrist, but his legal career spans decades.
He’s been a judge in Utah’s 3rd District since December 2016. His retirement, planned for May, was announced in a press release from the Utah Governor’s office Jan. 22.
Holmberg earned a law degree from the Mitchell Hamline School of Law in Minnesota and a bachelor’s in accounting from the University of Tennessee.
A former certified public accountant, he specialized in civil law, maintaining his own private practice and teaching in Minnesota before moving to Salt Lake City in 2006.
In 2012, he became an assistant attorney general, where he was the torts section director.
The nominees for the vacancy are: University of Utah law professor Andrew Choate, Assistant U.S. Attorney Todd Hilbig, solar panel company in-house counsel Jeffrey Makin, Assistant U.S. Attorney Thaddeus May and Salt Lake County Deputy District Attorney Breanne Miller.
The nominating commission is accepting comments via mail or email until Feb. 3. After that, Gov. Spencer Cox will make the appointment and the Utah Senate will confirm Holmberg’s replacement.
