judge matthew grove
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Colorado Supreme Court questions 2020 change to child neglect laws
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The Colorado Supreme Court pondered on Tuesday what the legislature meant to happen when it changed the state’s child neglect laws in 2020 to require more than a positive drug test at birth to deem a child neglected. The debate centered on the wording lawmakers chose to replace the previous condition that a child is neglected when…
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Appeals court rules Denver ordinance’s constitutionality has no bearing on lawfulness of arrest
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Colorado’s second-highest court ruled on Thursday that regardless of whether a plaintiff could later show Denver’s ordinance was unconstitutional, arresting officers were acting with probable cause at the time and could not be held liable. A three-judge panel for the Court of Appeals pointed to a 1979 decision of the U.S. Supreme Court that indicated…
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Colorado Supreme Court clarifies path for proving insurers’ unreasonable delay of benefits
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The Colorado Supreme Court delivered a decision with mixed benefits to insurance companies and policyholders on Monday, ruling that insurers’ internal evaluations of claims cannot be used to prove how much they owe a plaintiff, but companies also cannot hide behind ambiguity to delay paying certain types of damages. Under state law, insurers cannot unreasonably…
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Appeals court reverses termination of father’s parental rights after finding treatment plan impossible to comply with
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Colorado’s second-highest court last week overturned a Jefferson County judge’s decision that terminated a man’s legal relationship with his children, concluding it was impossible for him to fulfill the terms of his treatment plan. Jeffco initiated child neglect proceedings in September 2022 against a mother, a father identified as J.T.Q., and their four children. The…
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Colorado justices wary of upending process for settling insurance claims of injured parties
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Members of the Colorado Supreme Court seemed hesitant last month to find that insurance companies act unreasonably if they do not immediately pay an injured claimant the minimum amount the insurer’s internal analysis has calculated. Under state law, insurers cannot unreasonably delay or deny payment on a claim. The Supreme Court, in a 2018 decision, previously…
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Prosecutorial misconduct, error-prone judge’s decision prompt appeals court to overturn homicide conviction
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Misconduct by two prosecutors and a Douglas County judge’s decision to bar crucial testimony prompted Colorado’s second-highest court on Thursday to reverse a woman’s vehicular homicide conviction. Jurors convicted Jennifer Lea Woodruff of killing her coworker, Christopher Roberts, in a car accident along Interstate 25. The defense’s theory was that Woodruff’s medical condition caused her…
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Appeals judge suggests revising governmental immunity law in response to Manitou Springs’ ‘hide-the-ball’ conduct
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A member of the state’s second-highest court has suggested lawmakers revise Colorado’s governmental immunity law to prevent public entities from torpedoing lawsuits by withholding the identity of the actual party responsible for an injury. Last week, a three-judge panel for the Court of Appeals agreed Jaimi J. Mostellar’s lawsuit against Colorado Springs must be dismissed…
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Appeals court orders new sentencing due to biased Adams County judge
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Colorado’s second-highest court agreed last week that a former Adams County judge should not have sentenced a criminal defendant, given that the judge acknowledged his bias by also granting a motion to recuse himself. Jurors convicted Regan Christopher Garcia in 2022 of stalking his ex-wife. After trial, Garcia believed his public defender was conspiring with…
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Appeals court upholds 2 murder convictions, rejecting complaints about jurors’ use of devices
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Colorado’s second-highest court recently upheld the murder convictions of two defendants who claimed it was inappropriate that jurors were allowed to simulate the pressure of a trigger-pull with a mechanical device and to use a calculator during deliberations. In the first case out of Denver, a jury convicted Samuel J. Robinson of second-degree murder for…