Colorado Supreme Court Decisions 2012
Date: December 20, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 68M
Docket Number: 10SC403
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue before the Supreme Court in this case came from the court of appeals' unpublished decision in "Bacheller v. General Steel Domestic Sales, LLC," and centered on the determination of the applicability of "Protect…
Date: December 20, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 73
Docket Number: 11SC264
Justia Opinion Summary: In this appeal, Petitioner Yanick Kazadi, a legal permanent resident born in the Congo, sought post-conviction review of his felony plea leading to a deferred judgment, claiming ineffective assistance of counsel for…
Date: December 20, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 75
Docket Number: 11SC382
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Walter Tate appealed a district court order that reversed a suppression of evidence order. In a prosecution of Defendant for Driving Under the Influence, the trial court found that he had been stopped without…
Date: December 20, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 74
Docket Number: 12SA199
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue before the Supreme Court in this case was a trial court's order striking the testimony of plaintiff's rebuttal expert witness, and portions of two of plaintiff's previously disclosed expert witnesses. The…
Date: December 3, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 72
Docket Number: 12SA215
Justia Opinion Summary: In early 2012, two uniformed Colorado Springs police officers went to Defendant Jeffrey Marshall's residence to serve a summons for his alleged indecent exposure. Defendant wasn't home at the time; the officers waited in…
Date: December 3, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 71
Docket Number: 12SA47
Justia Opinion Summary: This adverse possession dispute between neighbors was appealed to the Supreme Court after a remand. The case below concerned legal interests in water and easement rights for three ditches diverting water from the…
Date: November 27, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 68
Docket Number: 10SC403
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff sued General Steel, Discount Steel, and those companies' presidents for abuse of process, malicious prosecution, and civil conspiracy, based on their filing an arbitration complaint against him. The trial court…
Date: November 27, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 69
Docket Number: 12SA112
Date: November 27, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 70
Docket Number: 12SA222
Justia Opinion Summary: In this original proceeding, Mother sought review of an order of the district court determining that it had jurisdiction to enter initial orders in a dispute concerning the allocation of parental responsibilities for…
Date: November 19, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 65
Docket Number: 10SC27
Justia Opinion Summary: In this postconviction appeal, the issue before the Supreme Court was whether a criminal defendant could plead guilty while reserving the right to appeal an unsuccessful motion to suppress evidence. The Court held that…
Date: November 19, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 66
Docket Number: 10SC433
Justia Opinion Summary: In this postconviction appeal, the issue before the Supreme Court was whether a criminal defendant could plead guilty while reserving the right to appeal an unsuccessful motion to suppress evidence. Adopting its…
Date: November 19, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 67
Docket Number: 10SC476
Justia Opinion Summary: In this postconviction appeal, the issue before the Supreme Court was whether a criminal defendant could plead guilty while reserving the right to appeal an unsuccessful motion to suppress evidence. Adopting its…
Date: November 5, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 64
Docket Number: 09SC846
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court granted certiorari in this case, along with "Hagos v. Colorado" (2012 CO 63), to address whether a determination on direct appeal that instructional error did not constitute plain error necessarily…
Date: November 5, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 63
Docket Number: 10SC424
Justia Opinion Summary: In this postconviction proceeding, the issue before the Supreme Court was whether a determination on direct appeal that instructional error did not constitute plain error necessarily required a determination in…
Date: November 5, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 60M
Docket Number: 10SC617
Justia Opinion Summary: In this appeal, the Supreme Court reviewed the court of appeals' unpublished decision in "People v. Gross," (07CA2255, slip op. at 7 (Colo. App. Apr. 1, 2010) (not selected for official publication)), which reversed the…
Date: October 22, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 62
Docket Number: 11SA219
Justia Opinion Summary: The supreme court vacated the trial court's order granting summary judgment after the trial court found that 71 days was not a reasonable time for purposes of relating back an amended complaint under C.R.C.P. 15(c).…
Date: October 22, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 61
Docket Number: 11SC265
Justia Opinion Summary: In the 1990s, The Hannon Law Firm ("Hannon"), Melat, Pressman & Higbie, L.L.P.("Melat"), and Howarth & Smith ("Howarth") entered into a contingent fee agreement to represent multiple plaintiffs in an action against the…
Date: October 1, 2012
Citations: 2012 CO 60, 2012 CO 60M
Docket Number: 10SC617
Justia Opinion Summary: In this appeal, the issue before the Supreme Court was the court of appeals' unpublished decision in "Colorado v. Gross," (07CA2255, slip op. at 7 (Colo. App. Apr. 1, 2010) (not selected for official publication)), which…
Date: October 1, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 59
Docket Number: 12SA80
Justia Opinion Summary: In this interlocutory appeal, the prosecution challenged a district court order that granted defendant Suzanne Guthrie's motion to suppress evidence of an illegal narcotic discovered during a routine inventory search of…
Date: September 24, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 58
Docket Number: 10SC765
Justia Opinion Summary: Respondent Robert Lego admitted his wife to Porter Hospital's emergency room. She stayed there for approximately two months. The Legos' insurance provider notified Respondent in writing that it would stop covering Mrs.…
Date: September 10, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 56
Docket Number: 10SC159
Justia Opinion Summary: Judith Koenig rented a car from a car rental company and was involved in an accident. PurCo sued Koenig to collect damages related to the incident, including damages for loss of the vehicle's use during the time it was…
Date: September 10, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 54
Docket Number: 11SC25
Justia Opinion Summary: In this appeal, the Supreme Court reviewed a court of appeals' opinion in "Churchill v. Univ. of Colo. at Boulder," whereby the underlying civil action involved claims brought by Professor Ward Churchill pursuant to 42…
Date: September 10, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 55
Docket Number: 12SA101
Justia Opinion Summary: In this interlocutory appeal, the Surpeme Court reviewed a trial court order that suppressed statements made by Petitioner Dianeth Pittman in response to police interrogation without a prior advisement pursuant to…
Date: June 25, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 52
Docket Number: 10SC532
Justia Opinion Summary: Grand Valley Citizens' Alliance filed a complaint alleging that it was entitled to a hearing on an application for permit to drill pursuant to section 34-60-108(7), C.R.S. (2011), of the Oil and Gas Conservation Act. The…
Date: June 25, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 49
Docket Number: 10SC832
Justia Opinion Summary: In this case, the Supreme Court accepted certiorari on a statutory construction issue involving the definition of the word "victim" within the criminal case restitution statute, sections 18-1.3-601 to -603, C.R.S.…
Date: June 25, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 53
Docket Number: 11SA164
Justia Opinion Summary: With the approval of the Public Utilities Commission (PUC), in 2005 the Public Service Company of Colorado (Xcel) began constructing a coal-fired electric power unit known as "Comanche 3." When Xcel sought to recover a…
Date: June 25, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 50
Docket Number: 11SC210
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court granted certiorari in this case to determine, whether an attorney owes fiduciary duties to third parties who are entitled to funds from Colorado Lawyer Trust Account Foundation (COLTAF) trust accounts.…
Date: June 25, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 51
Docket Number: 12SA78
Justia Opinion Summary: The People brought an interlocutory appeal pursuant to section 16-12-102(2), C.R.S. (2011),and C.A.R. 4.1, challenging the district court's suppression of statements made by Defendant Erick Figueroa-Ortega to a police…
Date: June 18, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 46
Docket Number: 10SC187
Justia Opinion Summary: Prior to a foreclosure sale, Petitioner Betty Amos and her late husband, Thomas Righetti, owned a condominium unit in Aspen. Amos borrowed approximately $1.6 million from Equitable Bank securing the loan with a Deed of…
Date: June 18, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 47
Docket Number: 10SC269
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Michael Pierson sought review of the court of appeals' judgment that affirmed his various convictions of felony sexual assault on a child and indecent exposure. The district court denied Defendant's pre-trial…
Date: June 18, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 48
Docket Number: 11SA288
Justia Opinion Summary: The State brought an interlocutory appeal seeking the Supreme Court's review of a trial court order that suppressed evidence seized by police following an inventory search after a traffic stop. The trial court ruled that…
Date: June 18, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 44
Docket Number: 12SA63
Justia Opinion Summary: This original proceeding before the Supreme Court arose from a divorce and parenting case in its third year of post-dissolution decree litigation. Mother's petition challenged the district court's summary denial of her…
Date: June 18, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 45
Docket Number: 12SA97
Justia Opinion Summary: In this interlocutory appeal, the State challenged an order suppressing incriminating statements made by Defendant Michael Lynn while in custody. The trial court held that the statements came after Defendant's…
Date: June 4, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 43
Docket Number: 11SA261
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court was asked to respond to a certified question posed by the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Colorado. The question arose out of an adversary proceeding in which the plaintiff, in his…
Date: June 4, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 42
Docket Number: 11SA326
Justia Opinion Summary: The prosecution brought this interlocutory appeal seeking to reverse the trial court's ruling that suppressed evidence obtained from the search of the apartment of the Defendant Andrian Arapu. Federal Immigration and…
Date: June 4, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 41
Docket Number: 11SC552
Justia Opinion Summary: In this appeal, the issue before the Supreme Court concerned whether the court of appeals had jurisdiction to review a district court order dismissing a misdemeanor charge in a county court case that was improperly…
Date: May 29, 2012
Citations: 2012 CO 30 M, 2012 CO 30M
Docket Number: 10SC409
Date: May 29, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 40
Docket Number: 10SC623
Justia Opinion Summary: In this appeal, the issue before the Supreme Court came from an unpublished opinion by the court of appeals reversing the trial court's allocation of primary parental responsibilities to the half-sister of a minor child…
Date: May 29, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 39
Docket Number: 10SC779
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2006,Jefferson County purchased securities through Capital Securities, Inc., Jerry Manning, and Adam Alves a purchase later determined unlawful under section 24-75-601.1, C.R.S. (2008). The county sued Capital…
Date: May 29, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 38
Docket Number: 10SC852
Justia Opinion Summary: After losing on her Colorado Fair Debt Collection Practices Act claim at the county court, Elizabeth Flood's trial counsel, Gary Merenstein, paid the fees of several appellate attorneys who represented Flood in an appeal…
Date: May 21, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 36
Docket Number: 09SC966
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue before the Supreme Court was whether section 38-5-105 C.R.S. (2011) granted condemnation authority to a company for the construction of a petroleum pipeline. Upon review, the Court concluded that the General…
Date: May 21, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 37
Docket Number: 11SA368
Justia Opinion Summary: The State filed an interlocutory appeal of a trial court's suppression of evidence obtained following an investigatory stop of Defendant Adolph Funez-Paiagua. Defendant was standing on the property of a closed auto-body…
Date: May 14, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 35
Docket Number: 11SA136
Justia Opinion Summary: The two appeals consolidated for resolution in this case both arose from an attempt by John C. Harrison, acting as personal representative for the estate of Nolan G. Thorsteinson and trustee of The Margie (Dotts) M.…
Date: May 14, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 28
Docket Number: 11SA224
Justia Opinion Summary: Respondent Colorado Public Utilities Commission challenged the subject matter jurisdiction of the district court of Routt County to consider changing the venue in regard to a petition for judicial review, arguing that…
Date: May 14, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 34
Docket Number: 12SA24
Justia Opinion Summary: In its order, the trial court in this case ruled that the prosecutorial work product doctrine under Crim. P. 16(I)(e)(1) was limited to work product prepared in anticipation of the case before the court, and did not…
Date: April 30, 2012
Citations: 2012 CO 30, 2012 CO 30 M, 2012 CO 30M
Docket Number: 10SC409
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reviewed an unpublished appeallate court decision to determine whether: the court of appeals erred under Colorado's collateral source doctrine when it admitted evidence of the amounts paid by Respondent…
Date: April 30, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 31
Docket Number: 10SC516
Justia Opinion Summary: An overhead garage door struck Respondent Larry Crossgrove in the head while he made a delivery to a Wal-Mart store in Trinidad. Respondent required medical treatment for injuries suffered in the accident. His healthcare…
Date: April 30, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 33
Docket Number: 11SA115
Justia Opinion Summary: Qwest Corporation and the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) appealed a district court's judgment in favor of the Colorado Office of Consumer Counsel (OCC) that reversed the PUC's decision setting the maximum…
Date: April 30, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 32
Docket Number: 11SA51
Justia Opinion Summary: This case arose from the negligence action Plaintiff Donald Smith filed against Defendant Michael Jeppsen after the parties were involved in a car accident. Plaintiff sought to recover, among other things, the cost of…
Date: April 23, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 28
Docket Number: 11SA224
Justia Opinion Summary: Respondent Colorado Public Utilities Commission challenged the subject matter jurisdiction of the district court of Routt County to consider changing the venue in regard to a petition for judicial review, arguing that…
Date: April 23, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 29
Docket Number: 11SA250
Justia Opinion Summary: In an original proceeding, the Supreme Court reviewed a trial court's order that quashed service on Defendant Paulo Rodriguez-Cera. Defendant resided in Mexico but was served by substituted service in Colorado. After…
Date: April 16, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 24
Docket Number: 09SC519
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reviewed a district court order that upheld a county court's decision that a six-year stattue of limitations did not bar Respondent Account Brokers of Larimer County, Inc.'s claim against Pettiioner…
Date: April 16, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 27
Docket Number: 10SA393
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff Jesse Reynolds and the owners of several other ditches that divert water from La Jara Creek appealed an order of the Water Court that denied their claim for declaratory relief. Plaintiffs sought a declaration…
Date: April 16, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 26
Docket Number: 12SA22
Justia Opinion Summary: In an original proceeding, the Supreme Court reviewed the Ballot Title Setting Board's findings that proposed Initiative 2011-2012 No. 45, its title, and its ballot title and submission clause contained a single subject.…
Date: April 16, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 25
Docket Number: 12SA8
Justia Opinion Summary: In an original proceeding, the Supreme Court reviewed the Ballot Title Setting Board's findings that proposed Initiative 2011-2012 No. 3, its title, and its ballot title and submission clause contained a single subject.…
Date: April 9, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 23
Docket Number: 10SC670
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2008, the Town of Minturn enacted annexation ordinances for nine parcels of property in response to annexation petitions filed in 2005, which claimed that Ginn (petitioner in this action) was the 100% owner of the…
Date: March 26, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 13 M
Docket Number: 10SC151
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reviewed the court of appeals' opinion in "People v. Laeke" (08CA79 (Colo. App. Feb. 4, 2010)). The court held that when the prosecution has conceded that defendant was insane at the time of the…
Date: March 26, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 22
Docket Number: 11SA234
Justia Opinion Summary: The State brought an interlocutory appeal to challenge the district court's suppression of contraband seized from the defendant's vehicle on two separate occasions. In each case, after the defendant was arrested for…
Date: March 26, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 21
Docket Number: 11SA331
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Tyler Wilburn announced his intent to introduce expert testimony of a learning disability to challenge whether he "knowingly" violated his bail bond condition, a mistake-of-fact defense (he missed his court…
Date: March 19, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 19
Docket Number: 09SC1050
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner Air Wisconsin Airlines Corporation employed Respondent William Hoeper as a pilot. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) issued Respondent a firearm under the federal statute that authorizes the TSA…
Date: March 19, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 20
Docket Number: 11SA305
Justia Opinion Summary: In this case alleging sexual assault on a child, Defendant Yrineo Salazar sought to introduce evidence of an alternate suspect (the child's grandfather). Defendant asserted the alternate suspect had sexually assaulted…
Date: March 5, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 16
Docket Number: 10SC15
Date: March 5, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 17
Docket Number: 10SC344
Justia Opinion Summary: The Students for Concealed Carry on Campus, LLC, with Martha Altman, Eric Mote, and John Davis (collectively, Students), filed a complaint against the University of Colorado's Board of Regents alleging that the Board's…
Date: March 5, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 18
Docket Number: 10SC386
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant-Petitioner Thomas Lynn O'Hara, III was convicted of distribution of a schedule II controlled substance, adjudicated a habitual criminal, and sentenced to ninety-six years in the Department of Corrections. …
Date: February 27, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 13 M
Docket Number: 10SC151
Justia Opinion Summary: Respondent Abel Laeke was charged with one count of criminal attempt to commit unlawful sexual contact and one count of indecent exposure as a result of events that the State alleged occurred while he was a patient at…
Date: February 27, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 15
Docket Number: 10SC419
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner Accord Human Resources, Inc. (Accord) is a professional employer organization that transacts business in Colorado along with four related entities. In 2004, Accord transferred a portion of its Colorado…
Date: February 27, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 14
Docket Number: 11SC842
Justia Opinion Summary: "Judicial redistricting is a truly 'unwelcome obligation.'" This case involved the redistricting of Colorado's congressional districts following the results of the 2010 census. The Supreme Court held that the district…
Date: February 21, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 12
Docket Number: 10SC276
Justia Opinion Summary: During the November 2008 election season, parties Senate Majority Fund, LLC (SMF) and Colorado Leadership Fund (CLF) were registered with the I.R.S. as so-called "527" tax-exempt political organizations. In the run-up to…
Date: February 13, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 11
Docket Number: 10SC254
Justia Opinion Summary: M.T. was charged in 2004 with sexual assault on a child. He pled guilty under terms of a deferred judgment to attempted sexual assault on a child by one in a position of trust. Four years later, M.T. successfully…
Date: February 13, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 6
Docket Number: 10SC294
Justia Opinion Summary: In this case, the Colorado Supreme Court held that the General Assembly had not classified firearms as per se deadly weapons for the purposes of the first degree burglary statute. The legislature did not intend theft of…
Date: February 13, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 9
Docket Number: 10SC350
Justia Opinion Summary: Geri David was attacked in the parking lot of a grocery store in 2004 by a man she later identified as Defendant Michael O'Shaughnessy. She was approached from behind by Defendant who was brandishing a six-inch hunting…
Date: February 13, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 7
Docket Number: 10SC72
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Joseph Lucero was convicted of crimes connected to several break-ins in August and September 2000, including three counts of theft and one count of first degree burglary. In review of this case, the Supreme…
Date: February 13, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 8
Docket Number: 11SA280
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Anthony Revoal was charged with one count of possession with intent to manufacture or distribute marijuana in an amount less than five pounds after an investigatory stop and "Terry" frisk revealed marijuana and…
Date: February 13, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 10
Docket Number: 11SA77
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner Amanda Vinton, Esq. sought relief from orders of the probate court that permitted Respondent Sharon Virzi to amend her challenge to a trust administration by adding a claim of fraud against Vinton, the…
Date: February 6, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 4
Docket Number: 11SA82
Justia Opinion Summary: In an arbitration proceeding between Respondent SunOpta Grains and Foods Inc. (SunOpta) and Colorado Mills, LLC, an arbitrator, at SunOpta's request, issued subpoenas to petitioners SK Food International and Adams…
Date: February 6, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 5
Docket Number: 11SA98
Justia Opinion Summary: In this juvenile delinquency case, the prosecution filed an interlocutory appeal seeking the Supreme Court's review of a magistrate's order suppressing certain statements made by the juvenile during a police…
Date: January 23, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 3
Docket Number: 11SA248
Justia Opinion Summary: Acting on a petition filed by the child's father, the Arapahoe County District Court assumed jurisdiction to modify a Maryland child custody order on the grounds that neither the child nor the child's parents "currently…
Date: January 17, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 2
Docket Number: 10SC295
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Andrew Mumford challenged his conviction for possession of one gram or less of cocaine, arguing, among other things, that an incriminating statement he made to a law enforcement officer should have been…
Date: January 17, 2012
Citation: 2012 CO 1
Docket Number: 11SA217
Justia Opinion Summary: The State charged Defendant Christopher Strimple with possession of an explosive or incendiary device and other crimes after a police search of the home he shared with his common law wife. Police responded to the home…
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