Tag: justice melissa hart
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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 splinter over approach to sentencing review
Members of the Colorado Supreme Court were divided on Monday about whether vehicular homicide stemming from intoxicated driving is “grave and serious” in every possible scenario, with two justices suggesting the court reconfigure its approach for determining the proportionality of criminal sentences. The Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment means sentences cannot be…
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Colorado commission makes new access-to-justice recommendations after renewed listening tour
Adding judges to handle caseloads. Expanding authority for paraprofessionals in civil cases. Allowing self-represented litigants to file electronically. Making the judiciary’s website user-friendly. Those were among the recommendations advanced by the Colorado Access to Justice Commission in a report released on Dec. 12, following 22 listening sessions earlier this year. The report was a follow-up to…
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Colorado Supreme Court’s opinion output drops by two-thirds amid justice’s absence
The Colorado Supreme Court has released significantly fewer new opinions in recent months compared to the previous two years, even as the judicial branch insisted that a member’s open-ended absence is not causing delays. Justice Melissa Hart has been on an unusual leave of absence since Oct. 28, although she also was gone for the…
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Justice Hart’s absence continues, state Supreme Court hears oral arguments | COURT CRAWL
Welcome to Court Crawl, Colorado Politics’ roundup of news from the third branch of government. One member of the Colorado Supreme Court remains on an unusual leave of absence, plus the court heard oral arguments in eight more cases last month. Justice Hart’s absence continues • Previously, Colorado Politics reported that Justice Melissa Hart has been…
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Colorado Supreme Court to examine whether corporations can be liable for ‘felonious killing’
The Colorado Supreme Court recently announced that it will determine whether corporations can be liable for a “felonious killing,” meaning there is no limit to the damages they might pay for pain and suffering after causing a wrongful death. At least three of the court’s seven members must agree to take a case on appeal.…
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Colorado justices deliver favorable ruling for organizations raising open meetings violations
The Colorado Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that organizations are entitled to the same recovery of their costs as individuals when they successfully pursue a public entity’s violation of the state’s open meetings law. The Colorado Open Meetings Law permits “any person” to challenge a violation of the law. At the same time, it grants…
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Colorado Supreme Court ends lawsuit seeking refunds for CSU campus closure
Colorado State University students may not claim their school unjustly enriched itself when it temporarily closed its physical campus during the COVID-19 pandemic and did not provide refunds, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled on Monday. On behalf of all people who paid student tuition and fees during the spring 2020 semester, Renee Alderman sued CSU…
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Colorado justices point to quirk in identity theft law, agree man’s conviction cannot stand
The Colorado Supreme Court agreed on Tuesday that a man could not stand convicted of identity theft for using the “personal identifying information” of a nonprofit entity, rather than a human being. The state’s identity theft law applies to people who, without authorization, use the financial identifying information or personal identifying information “of another” to obtain something…
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A tattoo, the N-word, a different crime: Colorado justices hear appeal of former death row inmate
Almost 20 years after the murders of a young couple in Aurora, the Colorado Supreme Court heard the appeal of the man convicted of orchestrating the killings and who now alleges numerous errors pervaded his trial. Arapahoe County jurors convicted Robert Keith Ray for the 2005 slayings of Javad Marshall-Fields and Vivian Wolfe. He received…