justice monica marquez
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Colorado Supreme Court tosses man’s lawsuit over daughter’s traffic death
The Colorado Supreme Court applied a confusing matrix of conditions and deadlines in state law to conclude on Monday that a man waited too long to sue after his daughter was rendered unconscious and later died from a vehicle accident. At the same time, the justices acknowledged that their interpretation may result in differential treatment…
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Colorado justices say group that spent $4M on ballot initiatives does not have to disclose donors
The Colorado Supreme Court ruled on Monday that an organization that spent $4 million to advocate on ballot initiatives in the 2020 election is not required to disclose its donors and spending. The Supreme Court acknowledged that multiple factors suggested Unite for Colorado was a group whose “major purpose” was ballot issue advocacy. However, because…
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Colorado Supreme Court: Redistricting plans for 2028 election cannot proceed under state constitution
The Colorado Supreme Court blocked all attempts at redrawing congressional district boundaries for the 2028 election from reaching the ballot on Monday, concluding each of the proposed ballot measures violated the constitutional single-subject requirement. The court considered five distinct but related ballot measures. Half of the proposals would have redrawn U.S. House of Representatives districts…
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Colorado justices discuss solution to confusion from prior criminal ruling
The Colorado Supreme Court pondered the fallout on Tuesday from its nearly six-year-old decision interpreting the state’s impaired driving laws, with the justices now addressing how defendants affected by the legal change must seek postconviction relief. In contrast to other criminal appeals, there was no dispute that defendant Charles Crabtree could file a motion in…
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Colorado justices suggest father entitled to appeal of custody decision
Members of the Colorado Supreme Court signaled strongly on Tuesday that a father deserved some avenue for challenging a temporary child custody order that no lower court believed it could review due to the unusual circumstances of the case. Because the appeal involved a child welfare matter, neither the underlying filings describing the case nor…
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Colorado justices expand ability for civil defendants to avoid participating, win after trial
The Colorado Supreme Court decided on Tuesday that a civil defendant, whose non-participation in the case meant that he legally admitted to the sexual assault allegations against him, could nonetheless prevail after he showed up to testify at trial. A plaintiff identified as J.B. filed suit against Metro Taxi on behalf of her child, E.B.,…
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Colorado Supreme Court recognizes right to self-defense in workplace
The Colorado Supreme Court recognized on Monday that there is a right to self-defense in the workplace for which employers may not terminate workers so long as they lawfully exercise that right. The court’s majority in the 5-2 decision cautioned that its holding was narrow, but that the history and importance of self-defense meant the…
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Safe2Tell tip, corroborated details provided grounds to search backpack, Colorado justices rule
The Colorado Supreme Court decided this month that a tip submitted through the state’s confidential school safety system, plus a Douglas County administrator’s corroboration of some details, provided reasonable suspicion to search a student’s backpack for drugs. Someone submitted a tip through Safe2Tell, Colorado’s school safety reporting system, alleging a Chaparral High School student was smoking…
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Appeals court finds opening in Colorado Supreme Court’s framework for child neglect cases
Colorado’s second-highest court squeezed through an opening last week in a controversial state Supreme Court decision from 2025, concluding that the justices had not prohibited a child’s legal representative from being the one to request termination of parental rights in child welfare cases. Whether the government alone is empowered to pursue child neglect cases became…
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Colorado justices uphold strict interpretation of consumer protection law against debt collector
The Colorado Supreme Court concluded last month that a debt collector failed to comply with state law by suing a woman for an unpaid credit card debt without documentation that it owned her account. Portfolio Recovery Associates LLC filed a complaint to collect on a $671 debt from the credit card account of Felicia Wright.…