judge katharine lum
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Appeals judge asks Colorado Supreme Court to once again clarify magistrate rules
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A member of Colorado’s second-highest court urged the state Supreme Court last week to revise confusing language in the rules governing magistrates, less than two weeks after an attempted cleanup of the rules took effect. Magistrates are judicial employees who are not judges but who handle aspects of cases in the trial courts. Litigants may consent…
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In rare move, evenly divided Colorado Supreme Court issues no opinion on child welfare case
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The Colorado Supreme Court, in an extraordinary move, could not reach agreement on Monday about whether a child’s legal representative has the authority to file a motion to terminate parental rights in a child welfare proceeding. The 3-3 vote was a product of Justice Melissa Hart’s announced departure from the court in mid-December. She cited…
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Appeals judge believes children’s representatives may challenge certain parental rights decisions
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A member of Colorado’s second-highest court argued on Wednesday that, despite a recent state Supreme Court ruling prohibiting anyone other than the government from pursuing child-welfare cases, a child’s legal representative may still appeal certain decisions. By 2-1, a three-judge Court of Appeals panel decided it could not review a trial judge’s decision out of…
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Appeals court rules Denver officer, city may be sued for collision with scooter
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Colorado’s second-highest court concluded last month that a Denver police officer and the city itself were not immune from the negligence lawsuit of a scooter rider injured after the officer ran a red light. Jordon Reynolds was riding a scooter on N. Holly Street late one night in October 2023 just as Officer Emmett Hurd…
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Appeals court addresses defendant’s request to get property back 3 years after Supreme Court laid out process
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Almost three years after the Colorado Supreme Court clarified how a convicted defendant may ask law enforcement to hand over his seized property, the state’s second-highest court found an El Paso County judge wrongly denied the man’s request to return certain items. Jurors convicted James Woo in 2018 for the murder of Julie Tureson in Colorado…
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Appeals court overturns Adams County drug convictions due to unconstitutional police conduct
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Colorado’s second-highest court overturned a man’s drug convictions and 25-year prison sentence on Thursday after concluding two Northglenn police officers unconstitutionally transformed a traffic stop into a drug investigation without reasonable suspicion of a crime. Clifton E. McRae, who was originally stopped for making an illegal turn, repeatedly declined to consent to a search of…
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Appeals court overturns $850K+ in sanctions Douglas County judge imposed without explanation
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Colorado’s second-highest court on Thursday reversed a Douglas County judge’s decision to impose more than $850,000 in sanctions on a pair of plaintiffs and their lawyer without explaining why the amount was justified. A three-judge Court of Appeals panel noted there are multiple legal tools available for imposing sanctions for a lawyer or litigant’s conduct.…
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Colorado had no ability to prosecute New York woman for unauthorized credit card use, appeals court rules
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Douglas County prosecutors had no basis to pursue charges of identity theft and unauthorized use of a financial device against a woman in New York whose conduct occurred entirely outside of Colorado, the state’s second-highest court ruled on Thursday. Erin Brennan and her children lived in New York and her ex-husband moved to Colorado after…
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Colorado justices disagree father was entitled to new jury trial after faulty first proceeding
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The Colorado Supreme Court on Monday concluded a father was not automatically entitled to a child neglect jury trial after his first proceeding in El Paso County was overturned, and instead faulted the man for failing to reiterate his demand for a jury trial. For parents involved in child welfare cases, Colorado lawmakers have given them…
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Appeals court orders new trial after jury instruction ‘drastically misdescribed’ offense
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Colorado’s second-highest court on Wednesday ordered a new trial for a man convicted of failing to register as a sex offender, concluding the jury instruction did not correctly describe what was required to find him guilty. El Paso County jurors convicted Clyde Douglas Phillips in 2023 of failing to register as a sex offender and he…
