justice maria berkenkotter
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Justices debate what to do when governments withhold key info from plaintiffs
Members of the Colorado Supreme Court seemed to be on different pages when they considered on Tuesday whether a woman injured by a sidewalk defect in Manitou Springs was forever barred from suing the actual entity responsible because she did not learn until it was too late that Colorado Springs was the proper defendant. The…
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Colorado justices lay down framework for analyzing defamation lawsuits involving ‘public interest’ issues
The Colorado Supreme Court clarified on Monday how judges should evaluate whether lawsuits arising from a person’s speech — in particular, online consumer reviews — are connected to an “issue of public interest” and merit protection from legal liability. As part of the framework, the justices concluded a person’s motive in speaking is irrelevant to…
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Colorado justices ponder scope of law curbing insurers’ ability to allege failure to cooperate
Members of the Colorado Supreme Court pondered a question last week that could have sweeping ramifications for those making insurance claims: When the legislature required insurance companies to take certain steps before accusing policyholders of failing to cooperate in an investigation, do those protections apply to every request an insurer might make? Leading up to…
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Colorado justices consider whether to restore $5.7 million award to RTD subcontractor
Members of the Colorado Supreme Court considered last week whether the Court of Appeals incorrectly threw out a $5.7 million award to a company that helped build a commuter rail line and, in doing so, deterred public works contractors from seeking to recover money they are owed through the process envisioned in state law. Ralph…
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Colorado justices hear pleas to expand attorney discipline for sexual misconduct
Members of the Colorado Supreme Court heard from multiple commenters last week about the need to change the rules governing attorney regulation and discipline to allow for investigations of lawyers who committed unlawful sex acts at any point in their careers. The justices scheduled a Nov. 19 hearing to address proposed amendments to the rules…
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Colorado justices sympathetic to defendant’s claim of speedy trial violation
Members of the Colorado Supreme Court appeared sympathetic on Wednesday to the argument that an El Paso County prosecutor made an unjustified decision to file a mid-case appeal, pushing the trial beyond the legal deadline and requiring dismissal of the charges. The Supreme Court originally took an interest in Khristina Phillips’ ongoing misdemeanor prosecution in…
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Colorado justices receptive to allowing lawyers to ‘borrow’ allegations from elsewhere
Members of the Colorado Supreme Court seemed open on Tuesday to the idea that plaintiffs’ lawyers can use allegations made elsewhere to bolster their own clients’ claims, so long as the attorney first performs some degree of investigation into the “borrowed” assertions. Under Colorado’s rules for civil cases, attorneys must attest that the complaints they…
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Justice Melissa Hart missing for third week as judiciary defends Colorado Supreme Court’s functioning
Justice Melissa Hart missed a third straight week of case considerations as of Monday, with the Colorado Supreme Court indicating she again did not participate in the court’s weekly decision-making about whether to accept or reject pending appeals. The Colorado Judicial Department told Colorado Politics last week that Hart has been on a leave of…
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Colorado Supreme Court addresses ‘weaponization’ of paraprofessional program by loosening rules
The Colorado Supreme Court recently revised the rules governing the state’s relatively new legal paraprofessional program after hearing complaints that procedural barriers were preventing adequate representation of clients and generating unnecessary courtroom disputes. Last year, the court hosted a groundbreaking inauguration of a new category of legal workers: licensed legal paraprofessionals. Fifty-nine LLPs took the oath…
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Appeals court reverses murder conviction after Denver judge violated public trial right
Colorado’s second-highest court reversed a defendant’s murder conviction on Thursday because a Denver judge violated his constitutional right to a public trial. Due to an unusually large jury pool at Edward R. Sandoval’s 2022 trial, Chief Judge Christopher J. Baumann did not allow observers to be present in his courtroom during jury selection. Although the…