A federal district court judge in Denver has allowed First Amendment retaliation and conspiracy claims against the city of Denver and several former officials to move forward. The lawsuit was brought by Lisa Calderón, a longtime Denver activist and candidate for mayor in 2019 and 2023.

Calderón sued the city in 2018, claiming it retaliated against her for criticizing alleged discrimination against Black and Latino people in the Denver Sheriff Department by ending a contract for a transitional services program she ran for adults coming out of jail.

Calderón was the executive director of the Community Reentry Project from 2007 to 2017. Denver decided not to renew the program’s contract in July 2017, according to the lawsuit, after the Colorado Latino Forum issued a press release in which Calderón criticized supposed discrimination against Black and Latino people in the Denver Sheriff’s Department. The city then issued a request for proposals soliciting bidders for the contract, according to the case.

She again raised concerns about discrimination in a meeting with Hancock in August 2017, according to the lawsuit, and worked on a ballot measure to eliminate the mayor’s appointment authority for the sheriff. Hancock allegedly said he was “personally offended” by criticisms of treatment of Black employees by him and former Director of Safety Stephanie O’Malley.

Among the sequence of events involved with Denver ending the program’s contract, Calderón alleges Regina Huerter – then the executive director of the Office of Behavioral Health Strategies in the Denver Department of Public Health & Environment and manager the Crime Prevention and Control Commission for Denver – told her she needed to stop speaking out about jail discrimination issues after the press release was issued. The lawsuit also claims Jess Vigil, then the city’s deputy manager of public safety, talked to other officials about ending the Community Reentry Project contract because of Calderón’s activism and criticism of city officials.

Calderón filed her lawsuit with claims of First Amendment retaliation, and violation of her due process and equal protection rights under the 14th Amendment by allegedly discriminating against her based on her gender. She later added a claim of conspiracy to violate her constitutional rights. The lawsuit names the City and County of Denver and several officials Calderón says were involved in the allegations of conspiring to end the Community Reentry Project contract as retaliation: Vigil, Huerter, Hancock, former Sheriff Patrick Firman and Andrea Albo, the former sheriff’s chief of staff.

Chief Judge Philip Brimmer of the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado allowed some of Calderón’s claims to move forward in a ruling Monday. He only dismissed her claims against Firman for violating her First Amendment rights and for conspiracy to violate her 14th Amendment rights. Brimmer also dismissed Calderón’s claim for violation of her 14th Amendment rights.

In a 2021 filing, attorneys for the city argued each defendant should get qualified immunity. They also argued Calderón hadn’t plausibly alleged a pattern and practice by Denver of similar constitutional violations. Finally, they sought to have Huerter dismissed as a defendant because of “undue delay” by arguing Calderón did not have newly discovered evidence when Huerter was added as a defendant in 2021, saying she knew of the alleged facts when she originally filed her case.

Patricia Bangert, Calderón’s attorney, said Wednesday she hopes new Mayor Mike Johnston’s administration will reflect on Calderón’s allegations of retaliation to make sure it doesn’t happen to anyone else who works with the city.

“Really, it’s a broader issue,” she said. “It’s transparency; it’s fairness in the city’s dealings with third parties and with its own citizens.”

Bangert said she has not gotten an indication about whether the city plans to appeal the ruling. A spokesperson for the Denver City Attorney’s Office, which is representing each defendant, declined to comment on the case.

Brimmer’s decision marked another milestone in Calderón’s lawsuit that has now survived efforts by the city twice to get it dismissed. The federal district court originally dismissed the case in 2019, but the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the decision in 2021. Calderón then filed the amended complaint at the center of Brimmer’s ruling this week.