grand junction
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Colorado Supreme Court tosses man’s lawsuit over daughter’s traffic death
The Colorado Supreme Court applied a confusing matrix of conditions and deadlines in state law to conclude on Monday that a man waited too long to sue after his daughter was rendered unconscious and later died from a vehicle accident. At the same time, the justices acknowledged that their interpretation may result in differential treatment…
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Grand Junction roundtable spotlights public access while Interior faces scrutiny over targeted land sales
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum joined Bureau of Land Management Director Steve Pearce in Grand Junction Wednesday for a roundtable focused on linking public land access to improved physical activity and public health outcomes. The officials promoted new initiatives including GetActive.gov, a website aimed at…
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Q&A with Judge Gordon Gallagher | Colorado’s first federal district judge stationed on Western Slope
Gordon P. Gallagher first joined Colorado’s federal trial court in 2012 as a part-time magistrate judge stationed in Grand Junction. In March 2023, the U.S. Senate confirmed him to a lifetime appointment as a district judge — one of five Biden administration appointees to the state’s U.S. District Court. Gallagher became the first district judge in…
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Colorado’s chief justice opens up about 13-year friendship with death row inmate
Chief Justice Monica M. Márquez spoke publicly on Sunday about her longtime friendship with an Alabama man formerly on death row, which began during her time as a law school intern and ended with his execution more than a decade later. “What a connection. We could not possibly be more different. A gay, Latina, Catholic prosecutor…
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Colorado Supreme Court considers father’s window to sue over daughter’s injury, death
Facing a confusing matrix in state law, members of the Colorado Supreme Court attempted to sort out on Wednesday how long a father had to sue after his daughter was rendered unconscious and later died from a vehicle accident. Danielle Nicola was crossing a Grand Junction street one night in November 2018 when a driver…
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10th Circuit grants immunity to Grand Junction, Mesa County officers who fatally shot man 16 times
The federal appeals court based in Denver ruled last week that Grand Junction and Mesa County law enforcement officers could not be held liable for shooting and killing an allegedly mentally ill man in his driveway. The widow of Steve Alire sued multiple officers, plus the city and county themselves, for excessive force. The defendants…
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10th Circuit reinstates lawsuit against Mesa County deputies for $50,000 in home damage
The federal appeals court based in Denver agreed a trial judge mistakenly relied on outside materials when he dismissed a lawsuit against several Mesa County sheriff’s personnel who damaged a woman’s home during a SWAT raid. Patricia Cuervo identified 17 sheriff’s employees who allegedly contributed to the unspecified destruction on March 11, 2018. That day, police…
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Colorado Supreme Court takes up 6 cases on involuntary intoxication, malicious prosecution, child neglect trials
The Colorado Supreme Court announced on Monday it will hear appeals in six cases, including the question of whether a person can claim he knowingly ingested one substance that was secretly laced with another behavior-altering substance as a defense to criminal charges. At least three of the court’s seven members must agree to grant an…
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Protection or overreach? In western Colorado, national monument proposal ignites controversy
Sean Pond was around a small town of his native western Colorado when he spotted a man in a blue ball cap. Above the bill were the words at the center of an ongoing controversy: “PROTECT THE DOLORES.” Pond approached the man. “He said someone at REI just gave it to him and he liked…
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Mesa County judge’s errors prompt new trial for fertility doctor who used own sperm on patients
Colorado’s second-highest court on Thursday overturned a multimillion-dollar jury award to a pair of patients whose doctor artificially inseminated them with his own sperm, concluding a Mesa County judge’s cascading set of errors warranted a new trial. A three-judge panel for the Court of Appeals conceded Paul B. Jones, a retired obstetrician-gynecologist from Grand Junction,…