Colorado Supreme Court Decisions 2015

Colorado v. Johnson  
Date: December 21, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 70
Docket Number: 12SC605

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court granted certiorari to consider whether the trial court violated respondent Michael Johnson's statutory and constitutional rights by increasing his sentence on the remaining conviction on remand…

Colroado v. Nelson  
Date: December 21, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 68
Docket Number: 13SC495

Justia Opinion Summary: Respondent Shannon Nelson was convicted of five charges relating to sexual assaults allegedly committed against her children. She was sentenced to 20 years in prison, and ordered to pay court costs, fees and restitution.…

Colorado v. Madden  
Date: December 21, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 69
Docket Number: 13SC496

Justia Opinion Summary: Respondent Louis Madden was convicted of attempting to patronize a prostituted child and attempted third degree sexual assault by force. He was originally sentenced to an indeterminate sentence and ordered to pay costs,…

Rutter v. Colorado  
Date: December 21, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 71
Docket Number: 13SC523

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Jarrod Rutter was convicted of multiple felonies relating to the manufacture and distribution of methamphetamine. Rutter was adjudicated a habitual criminal, which quadrupled the maximum presumptive range for…

T.W. v. M.C.  
Date: December 21, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 72
Docket Number: 14SC1045

Justia Opinion Summary: Central to the appeal before the Supreme Court in this case was a question of who would be the parents of two little boys. M.C. was unaware that he had become the father to the twin boys because the children's biological…

Colorado v. Childress  
Date: November 23, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 65
Docket Number: 12SC820

Justia Opinion Summary: The State appealed an appellate court's judgment that vacated respondent Kenneth Childress' conviction of vehicular assault while operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol or drugs. It was undisputed that…

Ritzert v. Board of Education  
Date: November 23, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 66
Docket Number: 13SC930

Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner Cathy Ritzert had worked as a teacher for more than twenty years. She worked for the Air Academy High School, part of the Academy School District No. 20. A student's parents complained about Ritzert, and the…

Colorado v. Swietlicki  
Date: November 23, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 67
Docket Number: 15SA129

Justia Opinion Summary: In 2014, a detective from the Douglas County Sheriff's Office (DCSO) responded to a middle school's report that twelve-year-old female student J.M. had posted a picture of herself drinking what appeared to be alcohol.…

Oasis Legal Fin. Grp. v. Coffman  
Date: November 16, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 63
Docket Number: 13SC497

Justia Opinion Summary: This case concerned the nature of transactions that petitioners, national litigation finance companies, made with tort plaintiffs seeking funds to pay personal expenses while waiting for their lawsuits to settle or go to…

Meridian Serv. Metro. Dist. v. Ground Water Comm'n  
Date: November 16, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 64
Docket Number: 14SA302

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff-appellant Meridian Service Metropolitan District (Meridian) appealed a district court order finding that Meridian sought to appropriate designated ground water that was subject to the jurisdiction of the…

Chavez v. Colorado  
Date: November 2, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 62
Docket Number: 13SC712

Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner Anthony Chavez was convicted of a sex offense, and the trial court imposed an indeterminate, fifteen-year-to-life sentence. Chavez challenged that sentence on appeal, arguing that the trial court did not…

Colorado v. Herrera  
Date: October 26, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 60
Docket Number: 14SA281

Justia Opinion Summary: In an interlocutory appeal, the State of Colorado argued that evidence of text messages between defendant Matthew Herrera and a juvenile girl (“Faith”) was admissible under a warrant authorizing a search of his cellphone…

Tucker v. Town of Minturn  
Date: October 26, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 61
Docket Number: 14SA295

Justia Opinion Summary: The issue this case presented for the Colorado Supreme Court’s review centered on whether a non-attorney trustee of a trust could proceed pro se before the water court. Appellant-trustee J. Tucker appealed the water…

RTD v. 750 West 48th Ave., LLC  
Date: October 13, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 57
Docket Number: 14SC64

Justia Opinion Summary: In 2011, In 2011, Regional Transportation District (“RTD”) filed a petition in condemnation against 750 West 48th Avenue, LLC (“Landowner”) to acquire approximately the approximately 1.6 acre property a light rail…

Colorado v. Quintero-Amador  
Date: October 13, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 59
Docket Number: 15SA92

Justia Opinion Summary: In an interlocutory appeal, the State challenged an order suppressing at retrial the testimony given by defendant Ivan Quintero-Amador at his first trial. After review, the Supreme Court concluded that the trial court…

Dwyer v. Colorado  
Date: September 21, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 58
Docket Number: 15SA22

Justia Opinion Summary: In an original proceeding, the issue this case presented for the Colorado Supreme Court's review centered on the legality of the "negative factor," a legislative enactment that operated to reduce education funding across…

RTD v. 750 West 48th Ave., LLC  
Date: September 14, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 57
Docket Number: 14SC64

Justia Opinion Summary: In 2011, Regional Transportation District ("RTD") filed a petition in condemnation against 750 West 48th Ave., LLC ("Landowner") to acquire the property for development of a light rail project. Landowner was leasing the…

Bd. of Cty. Comm'rs of Summit Cty. v. Rodgers  
Date: September 8, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 56
Docket Number: 13SC404

Justia Opinion Summary: Respondents Jason Rodgers and James Hazel brought a 42 U.S.C. 1983 claim against the Summit County Board of County Commissioners alleging the County violated the Equal Protection Clause of the federal Constitution when…

People v. Davis - Competency to Waive the Right to Counsel - Double
Date: August 3, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 36M
Docket Number: 12SC236
Colorado v. Tate  
Date: August 3, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 42
Docket Number: 12SC932

Justia Opinion Summary: Three cases concerning juvenile sentencing were consolidated by the Supreme Court for the purpose of this opinion. In each, the Court examined the appropriate remedies for the defendants whose sentences would otherwise…

Colorado v. Vigil  
Date: August 3, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 43
Docket Number: 14SC495

Justia Opinion Summary: In 1997, Frank Vigil, Jr. was convicted of first degree murder for his participation in the kidnapping, rape, torture, and murder of a 14-year-old girl. Vigil was sixteen at the time of the crime. The trial court…

Colorado v. Wilson  
Date: July 20, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 54M
Docket Number: 12SC1027

Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner Derrick Wilson objected to the prosecutor's use of a peremptory strike to excuse a black veniremember, arguing that the strike violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment as interpreted in…

Colorado v. Tate  
Date: July 13, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 42
Docket Number: 12SC932

Justia Opinion Summary: The Colorado Supreme Court granted review in two cases to determine what remedy is appropriate for juvenile defendants who were given sentences that would be unconstitutional under the federal Supreme Court's decision in…

Hunsaker v. Colorado  
Date: July 13, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 46
Docket Number: 13SC134

Justia Opinion Summary: In 2006, a jury convicted William J. Hunsaker, Jr.,of sexual assault on a child (count I), a class 4 felony,and sexual assault on a child–pattern of abuse (count II), a class 3 felony. The trial court concluded that…

Colorado v. Wilson  
Date: June 29, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 54
Docket Number: 12SC1027

Justia Opinion Summary: This case centered on appropriate resolution of a Batson challenge. Petitioner Derrick Wilson objected to the prosecutor’s use of a peremptory strike to excuse a black veniremember and argued that the strike violated the…

Stackhouse v. Colorado  
Date: June 29, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 48
Docket Number: 12SC1029

Justia Opinion Summary: The Colorado Supreme Court granted certiorari in this case to consider whether the court of appeals erred in its conclusion that defendant waived his public trial claim by failing to object to the closure of the…

St. Jude's Co. v. Roaring Fork Club, L.L.C.  
Date: June 29, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 51
Docket Number: 13SA132

Justia Opinion Summary: St. Jude’s Co. made a direct appeal to the Colorado Supreme Court a water court decision entered in favor of the Roraring Fork Club, LLC. With regard to the Club’s two applications for water rights, the water court…

San Antonio, Los Pinos & Conejos River Acequia Preservation  
Date: June 29, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 52
Docket Number: 13SA135

Justia Opinion Summary: At issue in this case were two water court rulings upholding the Special Improvement District No. 1 (“Subdistrict”) of the Rio Grande Water Conservation District’s (“District”) and the State Engineer’s approval of the…

Colorado v. Rodriguez  
Date: June 29, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 55
Docket Number: 13SC115

Justia Opinion Summary: The issue this case presented for the Colorado Supreme Court's review centered on how both trial and appellate courts should determine whether a party has used a peremptory challenge to purposefully discriminate against…

Taxpayers for Public Education v. Douglas Cty. Sch. Dist.  
Date: June 29, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 50
Docket Number: 13SC233

Justia Opinion Summary: The Douglas County School District implemented its Choice Scholarship Pilot Program (CSP), a program that awarded taxpayer-funded scholarships to qualifying elementary, middle, and high school students. Those students…

Colorado v. Hassen  
Date: June 29, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 49
Docket Number: 13SC356

Justia Opinion Summary: The trial court completely closed the courtroom during the testimony of two undercover officers in respondent Omer Hassen's trial. The Colorado Supreme Court granted review of this case to determine whether this closure…

In re Colorado v. Elmarr  
Date: June 29, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 53
Docket Number: 14SA35

Justia Opinion Summary: In 2009, a jury found defendant Kevin Elmarr guilty of first degree murder for strangling his ex-wife. In an unpublished decision, the court of appeals reversed Elmarr’s conviction and remanded for a new trial,…

Colorado Medical Society v. Hickenlooper  
Date: June 22, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 41
Docket Number: 12SC671

Justia Opinion Summary: In 2010, the Colorado Governor, under guidance from the state's medical and nursing boards, decided that Colorado would opt-out of a federal regulation requiring certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNAs) administer…

Up. Black Squirrel Creek Grnd Water Mgmt Dist v. Cherokee Metro. Dist.  
Date: June 22, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 47
Docket Number: 13SA330

Justia Opinion Summary: The Upper Black Squirrel Creek Ground Water Management District appealed a water court order that interpreted an earlier stipulated decree to which it and Cherokee Metropolitan District were parties, concerning…

Perez v. Colorado  
Date: June 15, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 45
Docket Number: 11SC638

Justia Opinion Summary: The issue this case presented for the Supreme Court's review was the narrow question of whether the trial court's improper admission of unfairly prejudicial 404(b) evidence offered to establish the defendant's intent in…

Beren v. Beren  
Date: June 15, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 29
Docket Number: 13SC127

Justia Opinion Summary: At issue in this case was whether, and to what extent, the Colorado Probate Code displaced a probate court's authority to award an equitable adjustment supplementing a spouse's elective share of the decedent's estate. By…

Hunsaker v. Colorado  
Date: June 15, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 46
Docket Number: 13SC134

Justia Opinion Summary: The issue this case presented for the Colorado Supreme Court's review centered on a series of questions arising under the Colorado Sex Offender Lifetime Supervision Act ("the LSA") which established indeterminate…

Coats v. Dish Network  
Date: June 15, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 44
Docket Number: 13SC394

Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner Brandon Coats claimed respondent Dish Network, LLC violated 24-34-402.5 C.R.s. (2014) by terminating his employment based on his state-licensed use of medical marijuana at home, during non-working hours. He…

Pena-Rodriguez v. Colorado  
Date: June 15, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 31
Docket Number: 13SC9

Justia Opinion Summary: After entry of a guilty verdict, defense counsel obtained juror affidavits suggesting that one of the jurors exhibited racial bias against the defendant during deliberations. The trial court refused to consider these…

Reno v. Marks  
Date: June 15, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 33
Docket Number: 14SC235

Justia Opinion Summary: Shortly before the 2011 election, the Chaffee County Clerk and Recorder received a Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) request from Marilyn Marks for access to voted paper ballots from the 2010 general election. Because…

Wilson v. Colorado  
Date: June 1, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 37
Docket Number: 11SC554

Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner Douglas Wilson was charged with first degree murder. He was appointed a public defender, but citing a conflict of interest, Wilson insisted upon new representation. The trial court determined that Wilson…

Colorado v. Davis  
Date: June 1, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 36
Docket Number: 12SC236

Justia Opinion Summary: The State charged defendant Rashaim Davis with possession and distribution of a schedule II controlled substance after Davis allegedly sold 0.372 grams of crack cocaine to an undercover detective. The State appointed a…

Colorado Medical Society v. Hickenlooper  
Date: June 1, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 41
Docket Number: 12SC671

Justia Opinion Summary: In 2010, then-Governor Bill Ritter, Jr. consulted with the state's medical and nursing boards and concluded that opting out of the supervision requirement for certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNAs) would be…

Colorado v. Tate  
Date: June 1, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 42
Docket Number: 12SC932

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendants Tenarro Banks and Michael Tate were convicted in 2004 of class 1 felonies for acts committed when they were juveniles. The Supreme Court granted review in defendants' respective cases to determine what remedy…

Boyer v. Health Grades, Inc.  
Date: June 1, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 40
Docket Number: 13SC131

Justia Opinion Summary: Health Grades, Inc., operated a website providing information to healthcare consumers about hospitals and physicians around the country, filed suit against two of its former employees, Christopher Boyer and Patrick…

East Cherry Creek Valley v. Wolfe  
Date: June 1, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 30M
Docket Number: 14SA179

Justia Opinion Summary: At issue in this appeal was a change of water rights filed by applicants East Cherry Creek Valley Water and Sanitation District and Colorado Water Network, Inc. (collectively, East Cherry Creek). East Cherry Creek…

Frees v. Tidd  
Date: June 1, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 39
Docket Number: 14SA234

Justia Opinion Summary: This water case involving neighboring property owners in Saguache County presented an issue of first impression for the Supreme Court: may the land owner whose property is burdened by an easement across his or her…

Colorado v. Vigil  
Date: June 1, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 43
Docket Number: 14SC495

Justia Opinion Summary: The State argued on appeal to the Supreme Court that the trial court erred in ruling that "Miller v. Alabama," (132 S. Ct. 2455 (2012)) applied retroactively to cases on collateral review of a final judgment. Defendant…

Roup v. Commercial Research, LLC  
Date: June 1, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 38
Docket Number: 14SC50

Justia Opinion Summary: Commercial Research, LLC (“Creditor”) obtained an assignment of a default judgment that had been entered against Gary S. Roup in a Texas court. Creditor then filed the judgment in Colorado and began collection…

Allstate Insurance Co. v. Medical Lien Management, Inc.  
Date: May 26, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 32
Docket Number: 13SC556

Justia Opinion Summary: Allstate Insurance Company petitioned for review of a court of appeals' judgment that reversed the dismissal of a breach of assignment claim brought by Medical Lien Management (MLM). The district court effectively…

Colorado v. Porter  
Date: May 26, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 34
Docket Number: 13SC838

Justia Opinion Summary: The Colorado Supreme Court granted certiorari in this case to resolve a split of authority between divisions of the court of appeals on whether double jeopardy barred a new habitual criminal sentencing hearing when the…

Coffman v. Williamson  
Date: May 26, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 35
Docket Number: 14SA249

Justia Opinion Summary: Morgan Drexen was described as a "legal software and legal software development company" owned and operated by nonlawyers but provided paraprofessional and administrative support to attorneys. The company provided…

Reno v. Marks  
Date: May 26, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 33
Docket Number: 14SC235

Justia Opinion Summary: Shortly before the 2011 election, the Chaffee County Clerk and Recorder received a Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) request from Marilyn Marks for access to voted paper ballots from the 2010 general election. Because the…

Pena-Rodriguez v. Colorado  
Date: May 18, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 31
Docket Number: 13SC9

Justia Opinion Summary: In 2007, a man made sexual advances toward two teenaged girls in a bathroom of a horse-facing facility in which petitioner Miguel Pena-Rodriguez worked. The girls identified petitioner as the assailant at a one-on-one…

Beren v. Beren  
Date: May 11, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 29
Docket Number: 13SC127

Justia Opinion Summary: The issue this case presented for the Supreme Court's review centered on whether (and to what extent) the Colorado Probate Code displaced a court's authority to award an equitable adjustment supplementing a spouse's…

East Cherry Creek Valley v. Wolfe  
Date: May 11, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 30
Docket Number: 14SA179

Justia Opinion Summary: At issue in this case was a change-of-water-rights application filed by East Cherry Creek Valley Water & Sanitation District and the Colorado Water Network, Inc. (collectively, East Cherry Creek). East Cherry Creek…

Colorado v. Diaz  
Date: April 27, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 28
Docket Number: 12SC939

Justia Opinion Summary: While incarcerated, defendant Josph Diaz punched a prison guard. Less than three months later, Diaz threw a cup that hit another guard in the mouth. The district attorney charged him in two cases with second degree…

In re Gilbert—Attorney Discipline—Quantum Meruit—
Date: April 27, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 22
Docket Number: 13SA254
Burnett v. Department of Natural Resources—Colorado Governmental
Date: April 27, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 19
Docket Number: 13SC306
Antero Resources v. Strudley  
Date: April 20, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 26
Docket Number: 13SC576

Justia Opinion Summary: After an exchange of Rule 26 disclosures, Anero Resources Corporation, Antero Resources Piceance Corporation, Calfrac Well Services Corporation and Frontier Drilling, LLC (collectively, Antero Resources) asked the trial…

Colorado v. Ackerman  
Date: April 20, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 27
Docket Number: 14SA358

Justia Opinion Summary: The State filed an interlocutory appeal of a trial court's order suppressing the results of a blood draw taken from defendant-appellee Travis Ackerman. At the hearing, the trial court found that a warrant was required…

Westin Operator, LLC v. Groh
Date: April 13, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 25
Docket Number: 13SC382
Westin Operator, LLC v. Groh  
Date: April 13, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 25
Docket Number: 13SC382

Justia Opinion Summary: After a late night out, Jillian Groh brought a group of friends back to a room she rented at the Westin Hotel. Security guards confronted the group about the noise level in the room, and ultimately evicted them, even…

Jordan v. Panorama Orthopedics & Spine Ctr., PC  
Date: April 13, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 24
Docket Number: 13SC545

Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner Barbara Jordan sued respondent Panorama Orthopedics and Spine Center, PC for negligence and premises liability. After receiving medical treatment at the Center, Jordan tripped over uneven sidewalk slabs near…

Colo. Water Conservation Bd. v. Farmers Water Development Co.  
Date: April 6, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 21
Docket Number: 13SA173

Justia Opinion Summary: Pursuant to its statutory authority, the Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB), after a notice and comment period and a hearing, voted to appropriate an instream flow right (ISF) on the San Miguel River, and to file a…

In re Gilbert - Attorney Discipline - Quantum Meruit
Date: April 6, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 22
Docket Number: 13SA254
McKenna v. Witte  
Date: April 6, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 23
Docket Number: 13SA304

Justia Opinion Summary: Applicants-appellants Tom McKenna and McKenna Ranch challenged a water court decision regarding the abandonment list of three of its water rights. The Division Engineer placed applicants' three Sanchez Ditch water rights…

In re Colorado v. Jones  
Date: April 6, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 20
Docket Number: 14SA284

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Zachariah Jones petitioned the Supreme Court to appeal a district court's decision to revoke his bail bond in its entirety, and ordered that he be held without bond pending resolution of charges in a different…

Burnett v. Dept. of Natural Resources  
Date: March 23, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 19
Docket Number: 13SC306

Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner Sarah Burnett and a friend went camping at Cherry Creek State Park. They chose a campsite under a canopy of mature cottonwood trees. "The weather that night was uneventful." Early the next morning, while…

Colorado v. Thames  
Date: March 23, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 18
Docket Number: 14SA312

Justia Opinion Summary: In an interlocutory appeal, the State challenged the trial court's order suppressing statements made by defendant Douglas Thames during a custodial interrogation. Investigators gave defendant an oral Miranda advisement,…

Martinez v. Colorado  
Date: March 16, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 16
Docket Number: 12SC803

Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner Joe Anthony Martinez was convicted by jury for first-degree murder after deliberation under a complicity theory. When the court instructed the jury on "after deliberation," it used language that the Supreme…

Cantina Grill, JV v. City & Cty. of Denver Cty. Bd of Equalization  
Date: March 16, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 15
Docket Number: 12SC819

Justia Opinion Summary: At issue in this case was whether several food and beverage concessionaires at the City-owned airport held taxable possessory interests under the test in "Board of County Commissioners v. Vail Associates, Inc.," (19 P.3d…

Ankeney v. Raemisch  
Date: March 16, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 14
Docket Number: 13SA336

Justia Opinion Summary: The Department of Corrections directly appealed to the Supreme Court the grant of habeas relief to petitioner-appellee Randal Ankeney. Complying with a mandate from the court of appeals (in an earlier appeal), the…

Colorado v. Carrion  
Date: March 16, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 13
Docket Number: 14SA262

Justia Opinion Summary: In an interlocutory appeal, the State appealed a trial court order to suppress certain statements made by defendant Luis Carrion during a custodial interrogation. Officers gave Carrion an oral Miranda advisement and…

Wolfe v. Jim Hutton Educational Foundation  
Date: March 16, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 17
Docket Number: 14SA38

Justia Opinion Summary: The Tip Jackwater right was originally decreed to service the Tip Jack Ditch, which is part of a 4,000-acre ranch now owned and operated by the Jim Hutton Educational Foundation. The State and Division 1 Engineers added…

Figueroa v. Speers  
Date: March 2, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 12
Docket Number: 14SA235

Justia Opinion Summary: The district court declared a vacancy in the Adams County School District 12 Director District 4 school board director position because defendant-appellee Amy Speers was elected but unqualified to serve. An issue arose…

Doyle v. Colorado  
Date: February 17, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 10
Docket Number: 13SC447

Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner Eric Doyle appealed the court of appeals' decision to affirm his conviction for violating a condition of his bail bond. At the request of the prosecution, the trial court took judicial notice of the fact that…

Craft v. Phila. Indem. Ins. Co.  
Date: February 17, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 11
Docket Number: 14SA43

Justia Opinion Summary: The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals certified a question of Colorado law to the Colorado Supreme Court. An insurer issued a policy that provided directors and officers of a company liability coverage. The policy required…

S K Peightal Engineers, LTD v. Mid Valley Real Estate Solutions V  
Date: February 9, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 7
Docket Number: 13SC728

Justia Opinion Summary: This case stemmed from a series of contracts surrounding the construction of a custom home. Petitioners are soil engineering corporations that subcontracted with developer Sun Mountain Enterprises, LLC to perform soil…

Wolfe v. Sedalia  
Date: February 9, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 8
Docket Number: 14SA12

Justia Opinion Summary: The issue this case presented for the Supreme Court's review centered on the historical beneficial consumptive use calculation of an 1872 irrigation right in a change of water right and augmentation plan proceeding.…

In re Malm v. Villegas  
Date: February 9, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 4
Docket Number: 14SA13

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Marion Villegas appealed the district court's grant of plaintiff Lillian Malm's motion to reopen her personal injury lawsuit, some six years after the case had been marked inactive and closed. The court denied…

Colorado v. Munoz-Gutierrez  
Date: February 9, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 9
Docket Number: 14SA187

Justia Opinion Summary: In an interlocutory appeal, the State sought the Supreme Court's review of a trial court order suppressing marijuana that police discovered in a car registered to and driven by defendant-appellee Ramiro Munoz-Gutierrez.…

In re Hagan v. Farmers Insurance Exchange  
Date: January 26, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 6
Docket Numbers: 14SA266, 14SA267, 14SA313

Justia Opinion Summary: In consolidated cases for this opinion, plaintiffs filed separate actions against Farmers Insurance Exchange (Farmers) in district court. In each case, Farmers moved the change venue, alleging that a change would promote…

LaFond v. Sweeney  
Date: January 20, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 3
Docket Number: 12SC205

Justia Opinion Summary: The issue this case presented for the Supreme Court's review centered on the question of who in a dissolved limited liability company("LLC") is entitled to the profits from a successful contingent fee case that was…

West v. People  
Date: January 20, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 5
Docket Numbers: 12SC301, 13SC209

Justia Opinion Summary: During 2002 and 2003, a Colorado state public defender with the Mesa County Regional Office represented defendant Thomas West after the victim's mother, D.S., informed police that she discovered West lying in bed next to…

In re Malm v. Villegas  
Date: January 20, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 4
Docket Number: 14SA13

Justia Opinion Summary: Lillian Malm filed suit against Marion Villegas by filing a complaint with the district court in 2005.The complaint alleged that Villegas caused Malm to suffer personal injuries in an automobile accident in 2002 (two…

Tulips Investments, LLC v. Colorado ex rel. Suthers  
Date: January 12, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 1
Docket Number: 12SC996

Justia Opinion Summary: The issue this case presented for the Colorado Supreme Court's review centered on judicial enforcement of an administrative investigatory subpoena for documents of a corporation outside of Colorado, but was suspected of…

Colorado v. Blagg  
Date: January 12, 2015
Citation: 2015 CO 2
Docket Number: 14SA268

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Michael Blagg was convicted by jury of first degree murder for the death of his wife, for which he received a life sentence without parole. Years later, the trial court granted Blagg a new trial based on…

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