Welcome to Court Crawl, Colorado Politics’ roundup of news from the third branch of government.

Leaders of Colorado’s House of Representatives will need to defend against a lawsuit filed by their own members that alleges a pattern of open meetings violations, and federal judges continue to dispense with lawsuits challenging COVID-19 protocols from the height of the pandemic.

Court system to adjudicate legislative branch lawsuit

?  Two first-term Democratic representatives have sued the General Assembly’s leadership over an alleged pattern of secret meetings that violate the state’s open meetings law. The defendants have since hired attorneys through the vote of a legislative committee.

?  “I just didn’t see the institution being able to change without outside intervention,” said Rep. Bob Marshall, D-Highlands Ranch. “This is entrenched. This stuff’s been going on for decades, there’s no doubt. It’s just custom and practice.”

?  However, former Sen. Don Coram, R-Montrose, told Colorado Politics the lawsuit is “putting you on very thin ice because, when you get legislators that are afraid to talk to each other, you’re asking for trouble.”

COVID-19 lawsuits dismissed

?  Although the bulk of COVID-19 precautionary measures are now gone, the courts are still combing through lawsuits about public health restrictions during the height of the pandemic. A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit from the owners of the Bandimere Speedway over local health orders that were in place in the early months of the pandemic.

?  A judge also declined to reconsider her dismissal of a lawsuit involving a man’s termination from his defense contractor job because he refused to abide by COVID-19 protocols. The man subsequently accused the judges assigned to his case of bias and asked, unsuccessfully, for a new set of judges.

Heard on appeal

?  Two friends bet $27,500 on whether Joe Biden or Donald Trump would win the 2020 election. The man who chose Trump claimed he didn’t owe money because the election was illegitimate, among other things. The state’s Court of Appeals didn’t buy it.

?  The Court of Appeals overturned a high-profile murder conviction because an Arapahoe County trial judge didn’t give jurors the proper instruction about an affirmative defense to felony murder.

?  Colorado law doesn’t require that a vehicle owner transfer the title in order for the vehicle to be a valid gift, the Court of Appeals ruled for the first time.

?  Doctors may rely on paperwork only, without an in-person examination, to determine someone has no permanent disability in workers’ compensation cases, the Court of Appeals decided.

In federal news

?  A Greeley police officer intended to ask for qualified immunity in an illegal detention lawsuit, but changed course after a federal judge said she was skeptical about the timing of the request, which came less than two months after she denied a motion to dismiss the case.

?  An unlawful arrest lawsuit will proceed to trial, in which Colorado Springs officers handcuffed a woman moments after she helped resuscitate an unconscious man in a motel parking lot.

?  For the second time in under a year, a judge declined to advance a nationwide settlement between restaurants and Grubhub due to defects in the agreement’s language.

?  A Colorado Springs man lacked standing to challenge the constitutionality of three state gun laws, a judge found.

?  A judge has advanced a proposed class action lawsuit against kidney dialysis company DaVita, Inc., in which nurses and technicians are accusing it of violating federal wage law.

Vacancies and appointments

?  The governor has selected prosecutor Victoria E. Klingensmith, who is also an adjunct law professor at the University of Denver, to succeed retiring District Court Judge Cynthia Mares in the 18th Judicial District (Arapahoe, Douglas, Elbert and Lincoln counties).

Miscellaneous proceedings

?  Although employees of the Office of the Colorado State Public Defender knew they would be getting pay raises this fiscal year, which began July 1, they didn’t know what their wages would be until two weeks after it started.

?  Denver has reached a settlement with four plaintiffs who sued the city over the excessive use of police force in response to the racial justice protests of 2020.

?  A public comment period runs through Aug. 7 for people to weigh in on a pilot program at the state’s federal trial court. As proposed, certain prisoners at the Fremont Correctional Facility, who are representing themselves in lawsuits, would get to speak with volunteer lawyers in 20-minute phone calls.