Tag: Justice Carlos Samour
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Colorado justices lay down framework for analyzing defamation lawsuits involving ‘public interest’ issues
The Colorado Supreme Court clarified on Monday how judges should evaluate whether lawsuits arising from a person’s speech — in particular, online consumer reviews — are connected to an “issue of public interest” and merit protection from legal liability. As part of the framework, the justices concluded a person’s motive in speaking is irrelevant to…
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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 ponder ‘gotcha’ for defendant after messy process impacted mental health evidence
Some members of the Colorado Supreme Court were uncomfortable last week with letting a defendant’s murder conviction stand after a series of missteps resulted in a trial judge blocking jurors from hearing an expert’s assessment of the defendant’s mental health. Although the details were complicated, the legal issue was more streamlined: State law requires defendants…
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Colorado justices receptive to allowing lawyers to ‘borrow’ allegations from elsewhere
Members of the Colorado Supreme Court seemed open on Tuesday to the idea that plaintiffs’ lawyers can use allegations made elsewhere to bolster their own clients’ claims, so long as the attorney first performs some degree of investigation into the “borrowed” assertions. Under Colorado’s rules for civil cases, attorneys must attest that the complaints they…
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Colorado justices weigh disclosure requirements for ballot initiative spending
Members of the Colorado Supreme Court considered on Tuesday whether an organization that spent $4 million to advocate for ballot initiatives in the 2020 election was required to disclose its donors and spending. The organization, Unite for Colorado, advanced a straightforward argument: It spent 10% or less of its money on a single ballot measure.…
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Colorado justices consider whether man can be convicted for convincing mom to lie for him
There was no dispute that Michael Thomas Hupke asked his mother to lie to his parole officer on his behalf. Further, Hupke acknowledged Mesa County prosecutors could have charged him as an accomplice to his mother’s deceit, or for soliciting her to do it. But Hupke maintained prosecutors could not do what they actually did:…
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‘Mental gymnastics’: Lawyers, judge dissect Colorado Supreme Court’s racial bias rule for jury selection
Lawyers from the prosecution and defense communities, along with a trial judge, attempted on Thursday to demystify a recent rule change addressing racial discrimination in criminal jury selection, with some head-scratching about what the Colorado Supreme Court had actually done. “The proposal initially was not to clarify a complicated area of law, but was an…
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Colorado justices decide pre-2025 law did not criminalize AI-generated child porn
Colorado law prior to 2025 did not criminalize, as a means of sexually exploiting a child, the use of artificial intelligence to generate nude images depicting real children, the state Supreme Court concluded on Monday. The legislature acted this year to clearly establish a crime for someone to have or share fake, yet “highly realistic,”…
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Colorado Supreme Court ponders when negative online reviews are insulated from lawsuits
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Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save Members of the Colorado Supreme Court considered last week whether a person’s vindictive motivations in posting a negative online review can nevertheless relate to a matter of public interest, and potentially shield the commentary from a defamation lawsuit. For the first time, the state’s highest…
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Colorado justices uphold confidentiality of truck driver’s medical records after fatal crash
‘We have never sanctioned a system in which a trial court must conduct a sentence-by-sentence analysis of medical records’ to determine confidentiality, wrote Justice Carlos Samour