Colorado Supreme Court Decisions 2013
Date: December 23, 2013
Citation: 2013 CO 73
Docket Number: 11SA306
Justia Opinion Summary: The parties appealed the water court's decision that holdover directors of a water conservancy district could not continue to act on behalf of the district a year after the expiration of their term. The Supreme Court…
Date: December 23, 2013
Citation: 2013 CO 72
Docket Number: 12SC391
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court granted certiorari in this case to consider an issue of first impression: whether under the state premises liability statute, the attractive nuisance doctrine applied only to trespassing children but…
Date: December 23, 2013
Citation: 2013 CO 71
Docket Number: 13SA179
Justia Opinion Summary: The State challenged the trial court's suppression of evidence taken from defendant Jesse Lee Cunningham's home pursuant to warrant. The trial court ruled that pursuant to Crim. P. 41(e), defendant's motion to suppress…
Date: December 12, 2013
Citation: 2013 CO 69M
Docket Number: 13SA194
Date: December 9, 2013
Citation: 2013 CO 70
Docket Number: 11SC597
Justia Opinion Summary: A jury convicted Defendant Neil Roggow of sexual assault on a child by one in a position of trust, based on his unlawful sexual contact with an eight-year-old girl. The court of appeals reversed his conviction,…
Date: December 9, 2013
Citations: 2013 CO 69, 2013 CO 69M
Docket Number: 13SA194
Justia Opinion Summary: The State brought an interlocutory appeal to challenge the District Court's suppression of Defendant Khaled Zadran's statements, which were obtained through a custodial interrogation. The police arrested and interrogated…
Date: December 9, 2013
Citation: 2013 CO 68
Docket Number: 13SA22
Justia Opinion Summary: The State brought an interlocutory appeal to challenge the District Court's suppression of Jasim Ramadon's statements obtained from a custodial interrogation. Ramadon is a native of Iraq who the United States military…
Date: November 25, 2013
Citation: 2013 CO 67
Docket Number: 12SA13
Justia Opinion Summary: This case was an appeal of a final water court order which voided a rule promulgated by the Office of the State Engineer regarding nontributary ground water extracted in the course of coalbed methane (CBM) production and…
Date: November 12, 2013
Citation: 2013 CO 64
Docket Number: 11SC813
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant sought the return of $11,200 that was forfeited, distributed and spent by the receiving agencies three-and-a-half years before his criminal conviction was dismissed. The trial court granted defendant's motion.…
Date: November 12, 2013
Citation: 2013 CO 65
Docket Number: 13SA107
Justia Opinion Summary: The State petitioned for relief from an in limine ruling of the juvenile court allowing the introduction of testimony by the juvenile’s psychological expert without regard for the court-ordered examination mandated by…
Date: November 12, 2013
Citation: 2013 CO 66
Docket Number: 13SA114
Justia Opinion Summary: The State brought an interlocutory appeal to challenge the trial court's suppression of evidence discovered in a vehicle search incident to the arrest of defendant Shaun Crum. Police officers observed Crum standing near…
Date: October 28, 2013
Citation: 2013 CO 63
Docket Number: 12SC396
Justia Opinion Summary: A.S. was sentenced as an aggravated juvenile offender to two years' commitment to the Department of Human Services, suspended on condition of successful completion of two years' probation. The district court vacated the…
Date: October 21, 2013
Citation: 2013 CO 60
Docket Number: 12SC139
Justia Opinion Summary: Bristol Bay Productions, LLC brought claims against author Clive Cussler in California for fraud based on allegations that he had misrepresented his readership numbers. Bristol Bay alleged Cussler told it he had sold…
Date: October 21, 2013
Citation: 2013 CO 61
Docket Number: 13SA113
Justia Opinion Summary: Paul Voth was arrested after firing several gunshots in a rural subdivision where he lived. He was taken to Denver Health Medical Center. Denver Health reported that Voth was disoriented when he arrived at the hospital…
Date: October 21, 2013
Citation: 2013 CO 62
Docket Number: 13SA214
Justia Opinion Summary: In June 2013, in Pueblo and El Paso County citizens certified petitions to recall State Senator Angela Giron and State Senator John Morse. A month later, the Governor set a September 10 recall election for both Senate…
Date: October 15, 2013
Citation: 2013 CO 59
Docket Number: 11SC801
Justia Opinion Summary: J.R. was sexually assaulted by a man who offered her a ride as she was walking home at 2:00 A.M. one winter morning in 2005. J.R. was taken to the hospital for examination; she complained of neck and jaw pain stemming…
Date: September 23, 2013
Citation: 2013 CO 58
Docket Number: 11SC55
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner Christopher Marquez was convicted at a single trial of attempted aggravated robbery (a statutorily designated crime of violence); second degree assault (found by the jury to have been committed as a crime of…
Date: September 9, 2013
Citation: 2013 CO 57
Docket Number: 10SC460
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner Cameron Davis was driving his girlfriend's car while a man in the passenger seat shot and killed a bystander. At trial, the prosecution relied heavily on testimony from three witnesses: Davis' girlfriend, his…
Date: September 9, 2013
Citation: 2013 CO 56
Docket Number: 12SC835
Justia Opinion Summary: A petition in Dependency and Neglect was filed a few days after O.C.'s birth. The child was removed from her parents' care over concerns that her mother was not adequately caring for her. O.C. was eventually placed in…
Date: July 1, 2013
Citation: 2013 CO 45
Docket Number: 09SC1084
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Carlos Gallegos pled guilty to attempted sexual assault on a child after admitting to sexually assaulting his live-in-girlfriend's six-year-old daughter. The trial court found that defendant met the…
Date: July 1, 2013
Citation: 2013 CO 55
Docket Number: 09SC323
Justia Opinion Summary: The Arapahoe County Sheriff's Department received a call from R. Talent, who claimed to have spotted his stolen van in the driveway of a house that was later determined to be Defendant Lance Brunsting's residence. Talent…
Date: July 1, 2013
Citation: 2013 CO 46
Docket Number: 09SC384
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant David Uribe-Sanchez was charged with four felonies and two crimes-of-violence sentence enhancers for the sexual assault of a girl who referred to him as "dad." He would be sentenced to 34 years imprisonment and…
Date: July 1, 2013
Citation: 2013 CO 48
Docket Number: 10SC146
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant James Hunter was designated as a sexually violent predator (SVP) following his conviction of second-degree burglary, sexual assault, sexual assault on a child, and a crime of violence. The court of appeals…
Date: July 1, 2013
Citation: 2013 CO 42
Docket Number: 10SC218
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Rhoderick Flockhart was convicted of distribution of marijuana and possession of eight ounces or more. On appeal, the appellate court ruled on three issues: (1) the court reversed defendant's convictions…
Date: July 1, 2013
Citation: 2013 CO 47
Docket Number: 10SC794
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant met his victim "ML" while standing in line at a store. A few days later, he and ML went out for dinner and drinks. Instead of driving ML to her car at the end of the date, defendant drove ML to a secluded…
Date: July 1, 2013
Citation: 2013 CO 44
Docket Number: 11SC29
Justia Opinion Summary: This case arose from Petitioner Brandon Allen's designation as a sexually violent predator (SVP). The court of appeals affirmed the trial court's SVP designation and held that the trial court could designate an offender…
Date: July 1, 2013
Citation: 2013 CO 51
Docket Number: 11SC596
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner Dina Marshall was charged with driving under the influence of drugs, careless driving, and possession of drug paraphernalia after lab urinalysis results revealed she had methamphetamine in her system when she…
Date: July 1, 2013
Citation: 2013 CO 49
Docket Number: 11SC899
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2000, Gregory T. Ludlow, S. Reid Ludlow, and Jean E. Cowles entered into an exclusive listing agreement with real estate brokerage firm Gibbons-White, Inc. for the sale of approximately 131 acres of vacant land in…
Date: July 1, 2013
Citation: 2013 CO 43
Docket Number: 11SC961
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue before the Supreme Court in this case was whether the appellate court erred including that where reasonable attorney fees were provided for in a contract, and the judgment based on that contract was reduced by…
Date: July 1, 2013
Citation: 2013 CO 50
Docket Number: 12SA196
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue before the Supreme Court in this matter centered on whether Denver could properly use quantified transmountain lawn irrigation return flows (LIRFs) as a substitute supply of water for its Civil Action…
Date: July 1, 2013
Citation: 2013 CO 53
Docket Number: 12SA313
Justia Opinion Summary: Cherokee Metropolitan District intervened in a lawsuit to try to minimize the loss of its water rights to some of its wells. In a separate legal malpractice action, Cherokee sued its former attorneys James Felt and James…
Date: July 1, 2013
Citation: 2013 CO 54
Docket Number: 12SA96
Justia Opinion Summary: The Colorado Supreme Court answered a question of Colorado law certified from the United States Court of Federal Claims. Plaintiffs were landowners who owned property abutting a former railroad right-of-way. The United…
Date: July 1, 2013
Citation: 2013 CO 52
Docket Number: 12SC49
Justia Opinion Summary: Kathleen Hopkins retired from the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment. During her period of employment, the Department made contributions to her retirement fund, and once she retired, she began taking retirement…
Date: June 24, 2013
Citation: 2013 CO 41
Docket Numbers: 11SA86, 11SA124
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue before the Supreme Court in this case centered on two water rights cases involving Raftopoulos Brothers (Raftopoulos) and Vermillion Ranch Limited Partnership (Vermillion). In Case No. 11SA86, the Court vacated…
Date: June 24, 2013
Citation: 2013 CO 37
Docket Number: 11SC516
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff Dennis Shaw and First Horizon Home Loan Corporation challenged an appellate court's ruling that "constructive fraud" was sufficient to void a request for release of a deed of trust, arguing that actual fraud is…
Date: June 24, 2013
Citation: 2013 CO 39
Docket Number: 11SC669
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the court of appeals’ ruling in favor of the Colorado Department of Local Affairs’ interpretation of CRS 39-4-102. The Court held that Qwest Corporation as a public utility, is valued centrally…
Date: June 24, 2013
Citation: 2013 CO 38
Docket Number: 12SA213
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court considered a reformulated certified question from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit: whether Colorado’s premises liability statute applied as a matter of law only to activities and…
Date: June 24, 2013
Citation: 2013 CO 36
Docket Number: 12SA307
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court held that CRCP 26(b) requires a trial court take an active role managing discovery on questions of scope. The trial court must determine the appropriate scope of discovery in light of the reasonable…
Date: June 10, 2013
Citation: 2013 CO 33
Docket Number: 10SC143
Justia Opinion Summary: Creditors-plaintiffs sued a Colorado LLC claiming the LLC authorized a distribution to members that bankrupted the company and left it unable to pay them. The defendants moved to dismiss plaintiffs' claims of unlawful…
Date: June 10, 2013
Citation: 2013 CO 35
Docket Number: 11SC725
Justia Opinion Summary: The Denver Department of Human Services placed "A.C." in foster care when he was two days old. Before his first birthday, the juvenile court terminated his biological parents' rights, which made him available for…
Date: June 10, 2013
Citation: 2013 CO 34
Docket Number: 11SC733
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner Joshua Dooly sought certiorari to appeal the court of appeals' judgment that affirmed the dismissal of his application for postconviction relief. The trial court denied his request for new counsel, and…
Date: June 3, 2013
Citation: 2013 CO 32
Docket Number: 13SA49
Justia Opinion Summary: The State filed an interlocutory appeal to challenge the trial court's suppression of drugs discovered in defendant's truck. Although the district court upheld the initial traffic stop, it found that defendant was…
Date: May 28, 2013
Citation: 2013 CO 31
Docket Number: 12SA156
Justia Opinion Summary: The State appealed the denial of a motion to quash subpoenas that Respondent John Brothers served on the parents of an alleged child-victim of sexual assault. The subpoenas ordered the parents to appear at Respondent's…
Date: May 28, 2013
Citation: 2013 CO 30
Docket Number: 12SA25
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs initiated this action in 2005 for declaratory and injunctive relief. They claimed that the current Colorado public school financing system violated the Education Clause because the system failed to provide…
Date: May 20, 2013
Citation: 2013 CO 28
Docket Number: 13SA39
Justia Opinion Summary: Police arrived at Respondent Kim Fuerst's residence in response to a possible protection order violation. Fuerst's wife cooperated with the police's request to answer the door, eventually giving the police consent to…
Date: April 22, 2013
Citation: 2013 CO 26
Docket Number: 11SA312
Justia Opinion Summary: Mile High Cab, Inc. appealed directly to the Supreme Court to challenge a district court denial of its application for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity. After a "lengthy" hearing, the administrative law…
Date: April 15, 2013
Citation: 2013 CO 25
Docket Number: 12SA287
Justia Opinion Summary: In a case involving breach of fiduciary duty and misappropriation of trade secrets claims, the plaintiffs sought to inspect personal and business computers, smartphones, and other electronic storage devices belonging to…
Date: April 8, 2013
Citation: 2013 CO 22
Docket Numbers: 10SC616, 11SC375, 11SC333
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue before the Supreme Court in these cases was whether a trial court could refer to prospective jurors by number instead of name in open court as a matter of routine policy. Defendant Rene Perez argued that the…
Date: April 8, 2013
Citation: 2013 CO 20
Docket Number: 12SA284
Justia Opinion Summary: The State brought an interlocutory appeal before the Supreme Court to challenge a district court's order to suppress Defendant Carlos Barraza's incriminating statements made prior to his first police interview at his…
Date: April 8, 2013
Citation: 2013 CO 21
Docket Number: 12SA75
Justia Opinion Summary: The State filed an interlocutory appeal to the Supreme Court seeking relief from a district court order that suppressed statements of Defendant Jesus Luna-Solis as well as certain DNA evidence. Although the court found…
Date: March 25, 2013
Citation: 2013 CO 19
Docket Number: 12SA189
Justia Opinion Summary: In an original proceeding, petitioner Bruce Nozolino sought to vacate a trial court's order that disqualified the Office of the State Public Defender as his counsel. The trial court made the disqualification after it…
Date: March 25, 2013
Citation: 2013 CO 18
Docket Number: 12SA236
Justia Opinion Summary: In an interlocutory appeal, the prosecution challenged a district court order that granted defendant Dimitry Pleshakov's motions to suppress evidence and certain statements made to police. The district court concluded…
Date: March 18, 2013
Citation: 2013 CO 16M
Docket Number: 11SC53
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue before the Supreme Court stemmed from a dependency and neglect case. The Court of Appeals affirmed the termination of the father's parental rights and reversed the termination of the mother's parental rights on…
Date: March 4, 2013
Citation: 2013 CO 17
Docket Number: 10SC504
Justia Opinion Summary: Steven Pham represented the estate of a driver of a car involved in a traffic accident. He appealed (along with the driver's parents and the five passengers in the car at the time of the accident) the court of appeals'…
Date: February 25, 2013
Citation: 2013 CO 14
Docket Number: 10SC853
Justia Opinion Summary: Respondents Christopher Roinestad and Gerald Fitz-Gerald were overcome by poisonous gases while cleaning a grease clog in a sewer near the Hog's Breath Saloon & Restaurant. The district court concluded that Hog's Breath…
Date: February 25, 2013
Citations: 2013 CO 16, 2013 CO 16M
Docket Number: 11SC53
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue before the Supreme Court in this case was whether foster parents who intervene in a dependency and neglect action possess limited rights to participate in a hearing on a motion to terminate parental rights. The…
Date: February 25, 2013
Citation: 2013 CO 15
Docket Number: 12SA123
Justia Opinion Summary: Police suspected that Defendant Stephanie Theander was involved in the death of her ex-husband Gregg Theander. While confined to a hospital bed, she made a series of statements during two separate interviews with police.…
Date: February 11, 2013
Citation: 2013 CO 13
Docket Number: 09SC1022
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2007, Petitioners Curtis Vagneur and Jeffrey Evans submitted two initiative petitions to the Aspen City Clerk regarding the highway entrance to Aspen. Respondents Les Holst, Clifford Weiss, and Terry Paulson filed…
Date: February 11, 2013
Citation: 2013 CO 12
Docket Number: 11SC494
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner Northstar Project Management, Inc (Northstar) entered into a contract with Respondent DLR Group, Inc. for the construction of a new building. DLR began performing under the contract and submitted invoices to…
Date: February 11, 2013
Citation: 2013 CO 11
Docket Number: 12SA263
Justia Opinion Summary: In an original proceeding, the issue before the Supreme Court in this case was whether an indigent alleged juvenile offender was entitled as of right to a second competency evaluation at the State's expense. Upon…
Date: February 4, 2013
Citation: 2013 CO 10
Docket Number: 10SC709
Justia Opinion Summary: Antelope Development LLC was formed to develop a residential subdivision in Bennett, Colorado. The LLC took out construction loans from the bank at the start of the project; before it was finished, the LLC had exhausted…
Date: February 4, 2013
Citation: 2013 CO 7
Docket Number: 11SC496
Justia Opinion Summary: Through cold calls, defendants sold plaintiffs shares in oil and gas joint ventures in Texas, Alabama and Mississippi. Plaintiffs all signed agreements with forum selection clauses stating that courts in Dallas County,…
Date: February 4, 2013
Citation: 2013 CO 9
Docket Number: 11SC536
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioners Jamie Webb, Jeffrey Hermanson, and Michaleen Jeronimus, challenged the legality of the City of Black Hawk’s ordinance banning bicycles on certain city streets. Petitioners, a group of bicyclists, were cited…
Date: February 4, 2013
Citation: 2013 CO 8
Docket Number: 12SA83
Justia Opinion Summary: This case came before the Supreme Court from a personal injury case against a restaurant that ended with allegations of a party contracting a food-borne illness. THe plaintiff sought to have a small out-of-state law firm…
Date: January 22, 2013
Citation: 2013 CO 4
Docket Number: 10SC65
Justia Opinion Summary: The Colorado Supreme Court court ordered a new trial for a man who sued after he was hit by a car that skidded across an icy patch in the road near Telluride in 2004. The jury ruled in favor of Michael Johnson, who…
Date: January 22, 2013
Citation: 2013 CO 5
Docket Number: 10SC762
Justia Opinion Summary: At issue before the Supreme Court in this case was whether certain terms contained in a credit agreement between a lender and a bank was ambiguous with regard to the default interest rate. Because the Court held that the…
Date: January 22, 2013
Citation: 2013 CO 3
Docket Number: 11SA169
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2005, the Town of Minturn filed an application for a change of water rights. In 2007, the Town made a new application for water rights, the approval of a plan for augmentation, and conditional appropriative rights of…
Date: January 22, 2013
Citation: 2013 CO 6
Docket Number: 11SC529
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue on appeal before the Supreme Court in this case was whether Colorado law recognized a psychotherapist-patient privilege between a guardian ad litem and a minor child with respect to a dependency and neglect…
Date: January 14, 2013
Citation: 2013 CO 2
Docket Number: 11SC664
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Jason LaRosa confessed to his wife, mother, pastor, a police dispatcher and an investigating police officer that he had sexually assaulted his two year old daughter. He was charged with multiple crimes, and a…
Date: January 7, 2013
Citation: 2013 CO 1
Docket Numbers: 12SA117, 12SA130
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue before the Supreme Court in these consolidated cases concerned the actions of the title setting board (Title Board) in setting the titles and ballot titles and submission clauses (or titles) in two groups of…
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