JUSTICE GABRIEL delivered the Opinion of the Court. 1 Respondents Xiuhtezcatl Martinez, Itzcuahtli Roske-Martinez, Sonora Brinkley, Aerielle Deering, Trinity Carter, Jamirah DuHamel, and Emma Bray are youth activists who have devoted substantial time and effort toward pursuing their goal of protecting the health of Colorado citizens and Colorado's environment. The court acknowledges the civic engagement of these young men and women as well as the concerns that motivated this action, and...
JUSTICE GABRIEL delivered the Opinion of the Court. 1 This case involves the rights of two parties who participated in Colorado's statutory foreclosure and redemption process. Petitioner Oakwood Holdings, LLC and respondent Mortgage Investments Enterprises LLC each claim a right to the deed on a piece of foreclosed property. In 2014, Mortgage Investments purchased the property at a foreclosure sale. On or around the date of the foreclosure sale, Oakwood purchased junior liens on the...
JUSTICE HOOD delivered the Opinion of the Court. 1 In 2011, OXY USA Inc. ("Oxy"), made a mistake that caused it to overpay its property taxes on oil and gas produced from leaseholds in Mesa County. Oxy failed to deduct certain costs it was entitled to deduct. By the time it realized the mistake, the protest period had expired. The company nonetheless contends it is entitled to abatement and refund of the overpayment pursuant to section 39-10-114(1)(a)(I)(A), C.R.S. (2017). But the...
JUSTICE M RQUEZ delivered the Opinion of the Court. 1 In 2013, Douglas County School District (the "District") used public funds to commission a white paper (the "Hess Report") supportive of the District's reform agenda. The Hess Report referenced an upcoming school board election and briefly profiled existing school board members, all of whom supported the reform agenda. The District included a link to the Hess Report in an email distributed to 85,000 Douglas County residents several...
JUSTICE M RQUEZ delivered the Opinion of the Court. 1 The petitioner in this case, Kinder Morgan CO 2 Company, L.P., operates oil and gas leaseholds in Montezuma County, Colorado. In 2009, the assessor for Montezuma County issued a corrective tax assessment on these leaseholds for the previous tax year, retroactively assessing over $2 million in property taxes, after an auditor concluded that Kinder Morgan underreported the value of gas produced at the leaseholds. Kinder Morgan...
JUSTICE EID delivered the Opinion of the Court. 1 Pursuant to section 1-40-107, C.R.S. (2016), petitioners Scott E. Smith and D. Michael Kopp ("Petitioners"), both registered electors, appeal the actions of the Ballot Title Setting Board ("Title Board") regarding the setting of the title and ballot title and submission clause for Proposed Initiative 2017-2018 #4 ("Initiative #4") (for tracking purposes, captioned "Limit on Local Housing Growth"). 1 First we consider whether Initiative #...
JUSTICE M RQUEZ delivered the Opinion of the Court. 1 Creager Mercantile Co., Inc., a wholesale distributor of groceries and tobacco products, sells Blunt Wraps, a type of cigar wrapper made of thirty to forty-eight percent tobacco. Blunt Wraps are designed to be filled with additional tobacco or marijuana and then smoked. We are asked to decide whether Blunt Wraps may be taxed as "tobacco products," as that term is defined in section 39-28.5-101(5), C.R.S. (2016). Because Blunt Wraps...
1 This case requires us to determine whether the Innovation Schools Act of 2008 ("ISA"), 22-32.5-101 to -111, C.R.S. (2016), precludes a local school board from approving an innovation plan submitted by a "new" innovation school, that is, a school that has not previously opened as a non-innovation school and has yet to hire teachers. 1 We hold that the ISA does not preclude approval of innovation plans from such "new" innovation schools. Accordingly, we reverse the judgment of the court of...
1 Denver petitioned for review of the court of appeals opinion reversing the judgment of the district court and remanding with directions to vacate the subject tax assessments against Expedia and the other respondent online travel companies ("OTCs"). See Expedia, Inc. v. City & Cty. of Denver , 2014 COA 87, 405 P.3d 251 . The district court had largely upheld a Denver hearing officer's denial of protests by Expedia and the other OTCs to Denver's claim for unpaid taxes, interest, and penalties,...
Chief Justice RICE , delivered the Opinion of the Court. 1 This case raises the following question: When may a nonresident parent company be haled into a Colorado court based on the activities of its resident subsidiary We hold that, to exercise personal jurisdiction over a nonresident parent company, a trial court shall perform the following analysis: First, the trial court shall determine whether it may pierce the corporate veil and impute the resident subsidiary's contacts to the...
CHIEF JUSTICE RICE delivered the Opinion of the Court. 1 This companion case to People v. Johnson , 2016 CO 69, 381 P.3d 316 , raises two questions. First, does a trial court have statutory authority to order a juvenile charged as an adult to undergo a state-administered mental health assessment for a reverse-transfer proceeding We answered that question in the negative in Johnson , but we do not answer that question here because it is hypothetical — the question is not based on the...
CHIEF JUSTICE RICE delivered the Opinion of the Court. 1 This case raises the following question: When may a nonresident parent company be haled into a Colorado court based on the activities of its resident subsidiary We hold that, to exercise personal jurisdiction over a nonresident parent company, a trial court shall perform the following analysis: First, the trial court shall determine whether it may pierce the corporate veil and impute the resident subsidiary's contacts to the non-...
Rule Made Absolute CHIEF JUSTICE RICE delivered the Opinion of the Court. 1 We issued a rule to show cause in this case to review the trial court's conclusion that defendant Ford Motor Company ("Ford") is subject to general personal jurisdiction in Colorado, despite the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Daimler A.G. v. Bauman , ___ U.S. ___, 134 S.Ct. 746 , 187 L.Ed.2d 624 (2014). We conclude that the record does not support a finding that Ford is "essentially at home" in...
JUSTICE EID delivered the Opinion of the Court. 1 Upon obtaining information that Steven Wayne Bleck was suicidal and possibly armed, officers with the Alamosa Police Department, including petitioner Jeffrey A. Martinez, entered Bleck's hotel room. After Bleck did not respond to the officers' command to show his hands and lie down on the floor, Martinez approached him, and, without holstering his weapon, attempted to subdue him. In the process, the firearm discharged, injuring Bleck. As...
JUSTICE BOATRIGHT delivered the Opinion of the Court. 1 Petitioner John Grayson Robinson brings this original proceeding pursuant to section 1-40-107(2), C.R.S. (2015), asking us to reverse the Ballot Title Board's ("Title Board" or "Board") decision to set the title and ballot title and submission clause for Initiative 2015-2016 #156 ("Initiative #156"). 1 Robinson contends that the title does not satisfy the clear title requirement and that the initiative violates the single subject...
JUSTICE M RQUEZ delivered the Opinion of the Court. 1 Following a two-year investigation into the Colorado foreclosure industry, the State brought a civil law enforcement action against the foreclosure law firm The Castle Law Group, LLC and its principals, Lawrence Castle and Caren Castle (collectively, "Castle"), as well as Castle's affiliated vendors, Absolute Posting & Processing Services, LLC, Ryan O'Connell, Kathleen Benton (collectively, "Absolute"), RE Records Research, LLC ("...
JUSTICE EID delivered the Opinion of the Court. 1 Respondent Jennifer Hansen was injured in a motor vehicle accident on December 30, 2007. Four months later, she presented an underinsured motorist ("UIM") claim to petitioner American Family Mutual Insurance Company ("American Family"), asserting coverage under an American Family auto insurance policy on her 1998 Ford Escort. As proof of insurance, Hansen offered lienholder statements issued to her by American Family's local agent that...
CHIEF JUSTICE RICE delivered the Opinion of the Court. 1 In this case we are asked to decide a straightforward question of statutory interpretation. Jeffrey Freeman was convicted of third degree assault on an at-risk adult. 18-3-204; 18-6.5-103(3)(c), C.R.S. (2015). Later, when he applied for a motor vehicle salesperson's license, the Colorado Motor Vehicle Dealer Board (the Board) denied his application pursuant to the mandatory disqualification statute, section 12-6-118(7)(a)(I),...
JUSTICE GABRIEL delivered the Opinion of the Court. 1 This case presents several novel issues arising from a dispute regarding an attorney's charging lien. After a contingent fee plaintiff's initial attorneys were discharged for cause and replaced by successor counsel, initial counsel asserted a lien against any settlement or judgment entered in the underlying action and in favor of the plaintiff. The underlying action was subsequently settled, and successor counsel filed a motion to...
JUSTICE EID delivered the Opinion of the Court. 1 In this case, we determine whether an avalanche that occurs within the bounds of a ski resort qualifies as an "inherent danger[] and risk[] of skiing" under the Ski Safety Act of 1979, 33-44-101 to -114, C.R.S. (2015) (the "SSA" or "Act"). If so, the statute would preclude skiers from bringing claims against ski area operators for injuries resulting from these kinds of avalanches. See 33-44-112, C.R.S. (2015). 2 Here,...
