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

A defamation lawsuit in Colorado will proceed over a sprawling set of unproven election-rigging allegations, plus the state Supreme Court will wade once again into the subject of crime victim restitution.

Election-related defamation

•  Days after the 2020 presidential election, conservative Colorado podcaster Joe Oltmann told his listeners that he previously heard an employee of Denver-based Dominion Voting Systems say on an “antifa” conference call that he had personally rigged the election against then-President Donald Trump. There’s little to no proof this ever happened, but Trump’s campaign and his supporters immediately amplified the story for weeks to smear the person on the alleged conference call, Dominion executive Eric Coomer.

•  Last week, the state’s Court of Appeals refused to dismiss Coomer’s defamation lawsuit against the numerous defendants, who include Trump lawyers Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani, and conservative commentator Michelle Malkin. The court decided a jury could find Oltmann’s unproven story defamatory and the other defendants should have entertained serious doubts about its veracity.

•  Coomer’s case is the latest test of Colorado’s relatively new “anti-SLAPP” law, which allows defendants to quickly dismiss lawsuits that are based on First Amendment-protected activity. Although the Court of Appeals previously interpreted the law in other contexts, this is the first application involving election fraud claims.

Restitution again

•  Three years ago, the Colorado Supreme Court told trial judges and prosecutors they needed to fix what they were doing to comply with state law governing crime victim restitution. Since then, the Court of Appeals has overturned multiple restitution orders that didn’t comport with the process. Some appellate judges have even vented their frustration with either the Supreme Court’s original ruling or the prosecution’s pushback to it.

•  Now, the Supreme Court will hear three more restitution-related cases. Although the justices will answer several questions, they all basically boil down to what happens if judges and prosecutors don’t follow the restitution process exactly as the court envisioned it.

Heard on appeal

•  The Supreme Court clarified children who are injured in car accidents have either three years to sue after the collision or two years after they turn 18, whichever is later.

•  Boulder County prosecutors may use the statements a blood-covered murder suspect made to police before they gave him a Miranda warning, the Supreme Court ruled.

•  The justices struggled with a question during oral arguments that has divided federal judges in Colorado: Does the state’s workers’ compensation law allow employees who are injured by motorists on the job to collect both workers’ comp and auto insurance benefits?

•  The Supreme Court also heard oral arguments in an unusual appeal in which an attorney is challenging a decision not to admit him to practice in Colorado.

•  Even though Colorado lawmakers have acknowledged a connection between traumatic brain injuries and involvement in the criminal justice system, the Court of Appeals determined a life sentence for a defendant with a TBI is not cruel and unusual.

•  A Denver judge allowed a jury to convict a woman for a crime she wasn’t charged with, prompting the Court of Appeals to order a resentencing for her.

•  The Court of Appeals agreed Durango had to disclose a draft financial report because it wasn’t exempt under the state’s open records law.

In federal news

•  After four years in which a family of Gunnison landlords has taken practically no steps to comply with a consent decree they signed, the government is asking a federal judge to appoint an independent property manager that would help them finally implement the housing non-discrimination agreement.

•  Although she acknowledged the evidence is somewhat weak, a federal judge let a jury decide whether the Adams County Sheriff’s Office violated a deaf detainee’s rights by not providing a sign language interpreter at the outset of her jail stay.

•  A judge refused to dismiss the city of Fort Collins from a lawsuit that alleges a police officer was able to get away with arresting people for DUI who weren’t actually intoxicated, due to a lack of training and supervision.

Vacancies and appointments

•  The governor has appointed Assistant U.S. Attorney J. Chris Larson to the Boulder County District Court, where he will succeed retiring Judge Patrick Butler.

•  Applications are due by June 3 to succeed retiring District Court Judge Gary M. Kramer in the 18th Judicial District (Arapahoe, Douglas, Elbert and Lincoln counties).

Miscellaneous proceedings

•  The deadline is April 30 for nonprofit eviction defense organizations to apply for $1.1 million in grant funding.

•  The deadline is also April 30 for nonprofit groups to apply for $2 million in grant funding to assist low-income clients who are experiencing family violence.