sueanna johnson
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State Supreme Court takes up governmental immunity cases for trip-and-fall, speeding officer
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The Colorado Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to review two appeals questioning the boundaries of the government’s general immunity from civil lawsuits, with one case involving a trip-and-fall in Jefferson County and the other implicating a police officer in Montrose County who killed two people during a pursuit. At least three of the seven members of…
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Colorado justices to consider financial penalties on lawyers, notice for evictions under COVID rules
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The Colorado Supreme Court announced on Monday that it will hear an appeal implicating the ability of law firms to financially penalize their attorneys for leaving for another job and taking clients with them. The justices also signaled they will decide whether a federal law enacted during the early COVID-19 pandemic still requires certain landlords…
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Appeals court clarifies boundaries of restitution orders, return of seized property
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After two criminal defendants with convictions more than a decade old filed challenges implicating a pair of recent Colorado Supreme Court rulings, the state’s Court of Appeals has now filled in the gaps on the process for ordering restitution to victims and for reclaiming property seized by law enforcement. Two separate appellate panels took the…
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Appeals court finds athletic club’s liability waiver does not bar sex assault lawsuit
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A child who was sexually abused by her tennis coach may sue the athletic club where he was employed, even though a liability waiver purportedly immunized the club from “any and all claims,” Colorado’s second-highest court ruled this month. Plaintiffs “Jane Doe” and her mother sued Wellbridge Club Management LLC, which operates Colorado Athletic Club-Monaco in Denver,…
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Appeals court orders new trial, further review after Adams County judge’s errors
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An Adams County judge gave jurors an instruction that misrepresented Colorado’s drug possession law, prompting the state’s Court of Appeals last week to reverse the felony conviction of Ashley Morgan. Moreover, a three-judge panel of the appellate court decided District Court Judge Priscilla J. Loew performed an incomplete analysis of whether an Adams County sheriff’s…
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Appeals court says prohibition on involuntary servitude not applicable to prison labor
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Colorado voters who made slavery and involuntary servitude unconstitutional in 2018 did not mean to abolish the state Department of Corrections’ prison labor program, the Court of Appeals ruled last week. A three-judge panel for the appellate court turned away the constitutional challenge of inmate A. Mark Lamar, who argued the general requirement that prisoners…
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Appeals court upholds Fremont County conviction despite sleeping juror
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Even though a Fremont County judge noticed a juror closing his eyes for “four to five minutes a couple of times” during the questioning of a key prosecution witness, Colorado’s second-highest court found no violation of the defendant’s right to a fair trial. The state Supreme Court has previously interpreted Colorado’s constitution to guarantee a…
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Appeals court warns police to use lights and sirens or lose immunity for crashes
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The town of Olathe and one of its officers can be held liable for the collision deaths of two men in 2018, stemming from the officer’s failure to use his lights and sirens for the majority of his high-speed pursuit. In reversing a lower court judge’s decision to dismiss the civil lawsuit against Olathe, a…
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Court of Appeals formally welcomes 3 new judges appointed pre-pandemic
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Within the state’s second-highest court, they are known as the “three amigos.” Alternately: the “three stooges,” the “three musketeers,” or “chummy, yummy and gummy.” But to everyone outside the Court of Appeals’ 22-member bench, they are known simply as “judge.” “They’re very tight. They’re very close,” said Chief Judge Gilbert M. Román during Thursday’s formal swearing-in ceremony…
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Appeals court orders frozen embryos be turned over for destruction in case implicating religion
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The state’s second-highest court ordered a divorced couple’s frozen embryos be turned over to the husband for destruction, finding an El Paso County judge disobeyed both the Colorado Supreme Court and Court of Appeals’ instructions for resolving disputes over fertilized eggs. A three-judge panel for the Court of Appeals on Thursday issued its second decision…
