judge terry fox
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Divided appeals court upholds Denver child sex assault conviction
Colorado’s second-highest court upheld a man’s sex assault conviction earlier this month, although there was disagreement between appellate judges about whether jurors properly evaluated damaging evidence of the defendant’s conduct in light of his unusual defense at trial. A Denver jury convicted Mohammed Diawarra in 2021 for sexual assault on a child after he impregnated an…
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Colorado Supreme Court draws line on financial penalties for firm-switching lawyers
Law firms may not require departing attorneys to pay a fixed amount for every client they take with them, unconnected to the firm’s actual expenses, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday. Under the Colorado Rules of Professional Conduct for attorneys, law firms generally cannot enter into an agreement that “restricts the right of a lawyer to…
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Colorado cap on monetary damages not unconstitutional, appeals court rules
Colorado’s second-highest court last month rejected an attempt to declare the state’s cap on certain monetary damages unconstitutional, noting it could not overturn prior federal and state Supreme Court decisions on the subject. An Arapahoe County jury awarded Jacqueline Gebert $2.7 million in damages after a Sears repairman incorrectly rewired her stove and caused her…
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Appeals court finds longer window applies for claiming violations under minimum wage law
Resolving an issue that has generated disagreement among federal judges, Colorado’s second-highest court concluded that alleged violations of the state’s minimum wage law are subject to a six-year window for filing a claim and not the much shorter window that applies to other types of wage complaints. By 2-1, a three-judge panel of the Court…
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Colorado justices struggle with juror in Black defendant’s trial who ‘didn’t want diversity’
Members of the Colorado Supreme Court this week struggled with the fate of a Black defendant’s convictions in an overwhelmingly White jurisdiction, after a trial judge refused to dismiss a juror who admitted he “didn’t want diversity.” Although the justices have previously addressed cases involving people of color who were removed from juries because of…
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Denver judge wrongly revoked jury trial in child neglect case, says appeals court
A Denver judge acted improperly by canceling a jury trial that two parents had requested in their child neglect case, the state’s second-highest court ruled last month. Although three-judge panels of the Court of Appeals are not bound by each other’s decisions, an appellate panel on Oct. 19 agreed with their counterparts who concluded earlier…
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Colorado Supreme Court weighs propriety of financial penalties for job-switching lawyers
When attorney Grant Bursek left his job for a different law firm, his old employer billed him $18,936 – meaning $1,052 for each of the 18 clients he took with him, pursuant to an agreement he signed months earlier. Now, in a first-of-its kind case, the Colorado Supreme Court is pondering whether law firms may charge…
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Colorado appeals court issues rulings on drug money, Pueblo councilman’s vandalism
Colorado’s second-highest court on Thursday decided a pair of cases involving financial restitution to crime victims, finding defendants are not obligated to repay police departments for money used in drug purchases and also upholding a Pueblo council member’s duty to pay $3,800 for his vandalism. Under Colorado law, most convictions require judges to consider whether…
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Appeals court allows ex-Boulder council candidate’s defamation lawsuit to proceed against activist
Colorado’s second-highest court more precisely defined the contours of defamatory online speech last week, allowing a former Boulder City Council candidate’s lawsuit to proceed against a political activist who created an impersonation Twitter account that linked to unflattering material about the candidate. At the same time, a three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals declined…
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Colorado law does not require title transfer to convey vehicles as gifts, appeals court rules
For the first time, the state’s Court of Appeals has decided Colorado law does not require vehicle owners to transfer the title when gifting a car to another person in order for the exchange to be valid. “Whether parties have transferred ownership depends on the facts of a particular case,” wrote Judge Terry Fox in…