Justia Colorado Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

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 home, and at a second interview at the police station after having been given his Miranda rights. Defendant was charged with retaliation against a witness or victim when he confronted residents of an apartment who called police on his friend, leading to the friend's arrest. The district court concluded that Defendant's initial statements were given while in custody, and subsequent statements were tainted by the failure to initially advise Defendant of his rights. Upon review, the Supreme Court held that, considering the totality of the circumstances, Defendant was not subjected to a custodial interrogation at the time he made the initial statements, and because statements made at the police station were not therefore fruit of the poisonous tree, the district court erred in suppressing both statements. Accordingly, the Supreme Court reversed the suppression order. View "Colorado v. Barraza" on Justia Law

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 found that a conflict existed and was not waivable. On appeal to the Supreme Court, petitioner argued the trial court abused its discretion in its disqualification order. "Contrary to the trial court's ruling, our analysis of the factors critical to the determination of whether Nozolino must be allowed to waive conflict-free representation convince[d] us that the balance weigh[ed] in favor of Nozolino's preference for continued representation by [the Office of the Public Defender]." Accordingly, the Supreme Court remanded the case for an advisement on record so that Nozolino could decide whether to waive conflict-free representation. View "In re Colorado v. Nozolino" on Justia Law

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 that defendant's incriminating statements were the product of an illegal interrogation without the benefit of Miranda warnings. The court suppressed these statements and evidence later obtained from defendant's apartment as fruit of the poisonous tree. Upon review, the Supreme Court concluded that defendant was not subjected to a custodial interrogation at the time he made the statements at issue, and accordingly reversed the district court's order. View "Colorado v. Pleshakov" on Justia Law

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 grounds that the trial court erred in allowing the foster parents to intervene and participate fully in the termination hearing. Upon review of the matter, the Supreme Court construed C.R.S. section 19-3-507(5)(a) and concluded that foster parents who properly intervened are afforded the same degree of participation as all other parties at a termination hearing. Furthermore, the Court concluded that the parents' due process rights are not impacted by the participation of the foster parents who properly intervene. View "A.M. v. A.C." on Justia Law

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' judgment which affirmed summary judgment in favor of the insurer, State Farm, on the grounds that plaintiffs' claims were bound by the statute of limitations governing underinsured motorist claims. Upon review, the Supreme Court found that plaintiffs failed to file their action or demand arbitration of their underinsured motorist claims within either three years of the accrual of their cause or within two years after receiving payment of a settlement or judgment on an underlying bodily injury liability claim preserved as prescribed by the applicable statute. Accordingly, the Supreme Court affirmed the appellate court's decision. View "Pham v. State Farm Auto Ins. Co." on Justia Law

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 Court construed C.R.S. 19-3-507(5)(a) and concluded that foster parents who have properly intervened are afforded the same degree of participation as all other parties at a termination hearing. Furthermore, the Court concluded that parents' due process rights are not impacted by the full participation of foster parents in the termination hearing. View "A.M. v. A.C." on Justia Law

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 caused respondents' injuries by dumping substantial amounts of cooking grease into the sewer thereby creating the clog and consequent build up of the gas. On summary judgment, the district court found the saloon liable under theories of negligence and off-premises liability and granted respondents damages. The saloon carried a commercial general liability policy issued by Petitioner Mountain States Mutual Casualty Company which sought a ruling it had no duty to indemnify Hog's Breath. The district court agreed that under the terms of the policy, the insurer had no duty under a pollution exclusion clause. The appellate court reversed the ruling in favor of the insurer, finding the pollution exclusion clause was ambiguous and that its application to cooking grease (a common waste product) could lead to absurd results and negate essential coverage. Upon review, the Supreme Court reversed, finding that the saloon released enough grease to amount to a discharge of a pollutant, and that the insurance policy pollution exclusion clause barred coverage in this case. View "Mountain States Mutual Casualty Company v. Roinestad" on Justia Law

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. The trial court granted defendant's motion to suppress these statements, finding that police violated her Miranda rights and that the statements were involuntary. The State appealed the trial court's rulings. Upon review of the matter, the Supreme Court agreed with the State and reversed the trial court. View "Colorado v. Theander" on Justia Law

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 objections to the petitions. Following a hearing, an administrative hearing officer determined that the proposed initiatives sought to ask electors of Aspen to vote on a change on use of open space to authorize a different entrance to Aspen, to mandate design specifics for that roadway, and to mandate the amendment or rescinding of existing documents previously authorized by the City Council that conflicted with conditions of the proposed roadway. The hearing officer concluded that the initiatives were "improper subjects of the initiative process." The issue before the Supreme Court was whether the initiatives were administrative in nature, and therefore outside the initiative process. The Court concluded that the proposed initiatives were indeed administrative in nature and were therefore not a proper exercise of the people's initiative power. The Court affirmed the hearing officer and the court of appeals. View "Vagneur v. City of Aspen" on Justia Law

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 Northstar. Northstar paid DLR in part, but became dissatisfied with DLR's performance before fully satisfying DLR's invoices. Negotiations proved unsuccessful between the parties and Northstar terminated the contract. Northstar sued DLR for breach of contract and related declaratory relief. DLR counterclaimed for breach of contract and declaratory relief. The court admitted a number of exhibits as evidence of the parties' contract claims. Northstar ultimately prevailed at trial. DLR filed a post-trial motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict, arguing that Northstar failed to meet its prima facie case and that the verdict was not supported by any proper measure of damages. Specifically, DLR took issue with the trial court's admission of several trial exhibits, and argued that the admission of these exhibits led the jury to award "excessive damages" to Northstar. DLR appealed that denial; the appellate court's reversal of the trial court. The Supreme Court held that the appellate court erred when it held that the record designated by DLR on appeal satisfied C.A.R. 10(b). Therefore, the court of appeals did not have the information necessary to determine whether the evidence sufficiently supported the jury's verdict in favor of Northstar. View "Northstar v. DLR Group, Inc." on Justia Law