melissa hart
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State Supreme Court wades into intra-judicial conflict over rights of employees
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Colorado’s Supreme Court is being asked to decide whether judges have the power to review personnel decisions involving judicial employees, a rare case in which different parts of the judicial branch are arguing for opposite interpretations of existing rules. During oral arguments on Wednesday, the state’s justices heard that judicial employees are legally different from…
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‘Puffery’ or illegal? State Supreme Court evaluates statements made by Denver energy corporation
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When Jagged Peak Energy Inc. began publicly selling shares of its stock in 2017, it allegedly misrepresented key aspects of its extraction operation to investors and overstated its ability to produce oil and gas. Now, the Colorado Supreme Court will decide whether the 8,000-person Oklahoma Police Pension and Retirement System may sue Denver-based Jagged Peak…
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Municipalities, state agencies warn Supreme Court against opening floodgates to lawsuits
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Nearly all of the state’s municipalities and a handful of state agencies are pleading with the Colorado Supreme Court to reverse a lower court’s ruling that eliminated the strict 28-day deadline for challenging decisions of government bodies. Liquor license denials, local governments’ discipline of personnel, and the Department of Corrections’ decisions about inmates are some…
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‘I’ve never seen anything like that’: State Supreme Court weighs discipline for divorce attorney
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Prominent family law attorney Brenda L. Storey said she was wrongly punished for simply asking a client in a divorce case to pay her, and for ultimately using money from the marriage toward her bill — a common practice in such proceedings. The Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel, which prosecutes lawyer discipline cases, took a vastly…
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State Supreme Court spikes trio of ballot initiatives seeking to loosen alcohol restrictions
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Three proposed ballot initiatives seeking to allow wine sales in food stores and third-party alcohol delivery may not move forward to the statewide ballot, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled on Monday. The justices concluded the proposals contained more than one subject in violation of the state’s constitution. “In the case of these Initiatives, we conclude…
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Fractured Supreme Court finds Adams County defendant did not invoke right to counsel in custody
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In an unusual decision on Tuesday, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled 5-2 that a criminal defendant did not clearly invoke his constitutional right to an attorney during a police interrogation, even though a majority of the justices actually believed the opposite was true. The appeal out of Adams County boiled down to a single moment…
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Judges, justices give candid look at judicial operations at educational conference
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Six of Colorado’s seven Supreme Court justices and more than one-third of the state’s Court of Appeals on Friday provided a candid glimpse into judicial branch operations, with subjects ranging from pandemic recovery and recent precedent-setting decisions to the Supreme Court’s increased pattern of hearing appeals directly. Among the key points raised at the 2022 Appellate…
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State Supreme Court attempts to illuminate meaning of tail light law
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Could drivers change their vehicles’ tail lights to match the Denver Broncos’ colors? Or emit a kaleidoscope of colors from their cars? Colorado’s Supreme Court on Thursday repeatedly raised those far-fetched scenarios as they grappled with the meaning of a state law governing tail lamp colors. As written, drivers must have “a red light plainly…
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Justices asked to endorse hybrid model of calculating parole eligibility
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In an unusual display of unity before the Colorado Supreme Court, both the government and inmate Nathanael E. Owens agreed that he was entitled to have his parole eligibility date calculated in a way that would move his potential release date one year earlier. However, Owens asked the justices to go further and order the Colorado…
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To harm or not to harm: State Supreme Court examines law against spitting on officers
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Although it is undisputed that intentionally spitting on a police officer is a crime, Colorado’s Supreme Court justices on Tuesday grappled with whether a La Plata County woman was properly convicted of a felony offense for her spitting or if she actually committed a less serious infraction. A jury found Cheryl Lynette Plemmons guilty in 2017…
