justice carlos samour
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Colorado justices weigh calculation of damages to victims of medical malpractice
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Members of the Colorado Supreme Court considered on Tuesday whether a decades-old limitation on medical malpractice awards also creates an absolute restriction on the interest that injured plaintiffs can receive when they prevail at trial. The question affects the balance between fairly compensating people who suffer severe or lifelong injuries from medical negligence, on the…
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Colorado justices debate what to do with medical records of driver following fatal Custer County crash
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The Colorado Supreme Court waded into a contentious dispute on Wednesday about how trial judges should decide whether a litigant’s medical records are confidential and what to do with other evidence that spawns from the private information. Complicating matters, many details about the appeal are shielded from public view due to the debate over confidentiality.…
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Colorado justices consider 33-year-old analogy’s impact on community corrections sentences
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The Colorado Supreme Court pondered an unusual question on Wednesday: When a previous decision relied on an analogy, but the circumstances of the analogy have since changed, is the prior decision still valid? Ryan Wallace Bonde’s appeal to the Supreme Court explores whether Bonde’s time in non-residential community corrections can be deducted from the prison…
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Colorado Supreme Court retracts decision recognizing right to jury trial in eviction cases
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The Colorado Supreme Court took the extraordinary step on Monday of retracting its two-month-old decision recognizing tenants have the right to a jury trial in certain eviction disputes. In a three-page, unsigned order, the Supreme Court explained its prior opinion “rested on a factual premise that the Court has now been advised was inaccurate.” Rather…
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‘Chutzpah’: Colorado justices raise eyebrows at Weld County’s assertion it can evade redistricting law
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Members of the Colorado Supreme Court appeared incredulous on Wednesday as a lawyer for Weld County argued the jurisdiction did not need to follow the state’s redistricting law, maintained it should not have to redraw its commissioner districts for nine more years, and declined to say whether the county would even comply with a Supreme…
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Colorado justices rule plaintiffs can use open records law for evidence when suing government
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The Colorado Supreme Court decided on Monday that nothing in the state’s open records law prevents a person from seeking documents from public entities at the same time they are suing the government in court. Although the justices agreed that a plaintiff properly used the Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) to seek a tape recording…
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Colorado Supreme Court rebuffs AG’s plea to scrap restitution ruling while remaining open to tweaks
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During a marathon session of oral arguments on Tuesday, members of the Colorado Supreme Court appeared open to tweaking their landmark 2021 decision warning trial judges and prosecutors to follow the law when awarding restitution to crime victims. But the justices quickly gave the Colorado Attorney General’s Office a reality check, indicating the Supreme Court…
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Colorado Supreme Court to decide whether to retreat on landmark restitution ruling
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The Colorado Supreme Court will incorporate an unorthodox twist into its oral argument calendar this week, hearing five cases that all revolve around the same subject: Was the court serious when it said three years ago that judges who do not follow the law lose their authority to order criminal defendants to pay restitution? In…
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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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Colorado Supreme Court to hear appeal claiming race-based prosecution
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The Colorado Supreme Court announced on Monday it will review whether a juvenile defendant who was tried and convicted of murder as an adult was entitled to have the case dismissed because the government allegedly engaged in selective, race-based prosecution. At least three of the court’s seven members must agree to take up a case…