A Denver attorney’s comments to the press about a federal class-action lawsuit were protected by the litigation privilege, which immunizes a lawyer who makes allegedly defamatory statements related to a civil court case, the Colorado Supreme Court decided, reversing a 2021 ruling by the Court of Appeals.
A Colorado law that went into effect in 2021 sets a timetable for the public release of law enforcement body-worn camera footage of incidents “in which there is a complaint of peace officer misconduct.” But if an officer shoots and kills someone, and no one formally complains, does the footage-release provision apply?
A judge applied Colorado’s four-year-old anti-SLAPP law in tossing out defamation allegations made by a health care staffing company against reporters for Denver7 and Denver Newsbreak.
Seven years after a judge sealed court documents requested by The Denver Post in a case concerning a Vail anesthesiologist who died of a drug overdose, the Colorado Court of Appeals has ordered the entire case file opened.
CORA’s deliberative process privilege might be the most frustrating category under which public records can be kept confidential in Colorado. When invoked, the government is claiming the records you requested contain material “so candid or personal that public disclosure is likely to stifle honest and frank discussion” among officials.
Librarians in Colorado need guidance from the Colorado Court of Appeals on whether the state’s library-user privacy statute protects the identities of people who want books banned or reclassified, a lawyer for the Gunnison County Library District director told a panel of appellate judges.
Colorado should enact legislation like a 2021 Michigan statute that outlaws the use of disappearing messaging apps in state government, but the language should be broadened to affect all state and local officials, a law student’s report prepared for the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition recommends.
A year from now, on July 1, 2024, inflation will likely boost the maximum hourly rate governments are allowed to charge for processing Colorado Open Records Act requests from $33.58 to around $41.34 — an alarming 23 percent increase.
A district court ruling against four Douglas County school board members doesn’t affect other government boards, councils and commissions, but it could persuade judges who examine similar cases concerning the legality of serial or daisy-chain meetings under the state’s open meetings law.
A Court of Appeals opinion keeping Colorado’s database of law enforcement officers confidential “creates a gaping hole” in the Colorado Open Records Act and broadens the scope of the criminal justice records law “beyond recognition,” two news organizations contend in a certiorari petition submitted to the Colorado Supreme Court.
