JUSTICE RICE delivered the Opinion of the Court. 1 We granted certiorari to consider an issue of first impression: whether, under Colorado's premises liability statute, section 13-21-115, C.R.S. (2013), the attractive nuisance doctrine applies only to trespassing children but not to licensees or invitees. We hold that the doctrine permits all children, regardless of their classification, to bring a claim for attractive nuisance. We therefore reverse the judgment of the court of appeals...
JUSTICE EID delivered the Opinion of the Court. 1 This is a direct appeal from a final judgment issued in District Court, Water Division 1, which voided a rule promulgated by the Office of the State Engineer ("State Engineer") regarding nontributary ground water extracted in the course of coalbed methane ("CBM") production and other oil and gas development in Colorado. 2 Historically, the State Engineer did not require permits for ground water extracted in the course of CBM production,...
JUSTICE RICE delivered the Opinion of the Court. 1 The Governor of the State of Colorado submitted an Interrogatory to this Court pursuant to Article VI, section 3, of the Colorado Constitution asking whether the prior participation requirement in Article XXI, section 3, of the Colorado Constitution conflicts with the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. This Court exercised its original jurisdiction and issued an Order holding that the prior participation...
JUSTICE RICE delivered the Opinion of the Court. 1 In this original C.A.R. 21 proceeding, we review the trial court's oral order allowing the Defendant, Paul Voth, to assert involuntary intoxication as an affirmative defense under section 18-1-804, C.R.S. (2013). We issued a rule to show cause why the trial court's order should not be vacated. We now hold that the trial court abused its discretion when it found that a virus qualifies as a "substance" that can result in intoxication under...
CHIEF JUSTICE BENDER delivered the Opinion of the Court. 1 Bristol Bay Productions, LLC brought claims against author Clive Cussler in California for fraud based on allegations that he had misrepresented his readership figures. Bristol Bay alleged that Cussler misrepresented his readership figures by claiming that he had sold over 100 million books when, in fact, the figure was closer to 40 million. According to Bristol Bay, it was fraudulently induced by Cussler's misrepresentations and...
JUSTICE RICE delivered the Opinion of the Court. 1 In this dependency and neglect case, we hold that section 19-3-507(5)(a), C.R.S. (2013), permits parents, grandparents, and relatives to intervene as a matter of right. We further hold that section 19-3-507(5)(a)'s three-month time requirement does not apply to parents, grandparents, or relatives. We accordingly affirm the judgment of the court of appeals. I. Facts and Procedural History 2 A Petition in Dependency and Neglect was filed...
Justice M RQUEZ delivered the Opinion of the Court. 1 Pursuant to C.A.R. 21.1, we agreed to answer a certified question of law posed to us by the United States Court of Federal Claims. The question arises out of a class action lawsuit asserting a Fifth Amendment takings claim against the federal government. Plaintiffs are landowners in Weld County who own property abutting a former railroad right-of-way. The United States authorized the former railroad right-of-way to be used as a...
Justice RICE delivered the Opinion of the Court. 1 In this direct appeal from the division one water court, we consider whether Denver may use properly quantified transmountain lawn irrigation return flows ("LIRFs") as a substitute supply of water for its Civil Action ("C.A.") 3635 exchanges. We hold that properly quantified transmountain LIRFs are legally indistinguishable from reusable transmountain effluent and, therefore, the water court correctly determined that Denver may use its...
JUSTICE RICE delivered the Opinion of the Court. 1 In this transactional broker professional negligence case, we hold that to sustain a professional malpractice claim against a transactional real estate broker, a plaintiff must show that, but for the alleged negligent acts of the broker, he either: (1) would have been able to obtain a better deal in the underlying transaction; or (2) would have been better off by walking away from the underlying transaction. 2 Here, the plaintiff Sellers...
Justice HOBBS delivered the Opinion of the Court. 1 We granted certiorari in Planning Partners International, LLC v. QED, Inc., ___ P.3d ___, No. 10CA1848, 2011 WL 5084925 (Colo.App. Oct. 27, 2011) (selected for official publication), to determine whether the court of appeals erred in concluding that, where reasonable attorney fees are provided for in a promissory note or contract, and the judgment based on that note or contract has been reduced by a counterclaim arising out of the...
CHIEF JUSTICE BENDER delivered the Opinion of the Court. 1 This original proceeding involves questions about the scope of discovery under Rule 26 of the Colorado Rules of Civil Procedure and the application of the attorney-client privilege to title opinions prevalent in the oil and gas industry. 2 Plaintiff DCP Midstream, LP, the respondent in this court, sued Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, the petitioner, for breach of contract and other claims. DCP asserted eleven breach of contract...
JUSTICE HOBBS delivered the Opinion of the Court. 1 We accepted jurisdiction in this case pursuant to C.A.R. 21.1, certification of a question of state law. The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit certified the following question to us: Does Colorado's Premises Liability Act (Colo. Rev. Stat. 13-21-115) apply to injuries caused by a defendant-landowner's employee during an activity not directly or inherently related to the land Larrieu v. Best Buy Stores, L.P., 491 Fed....
Justice RICE delivered the Opinion of the Court. 1 We granted certiorari to determine whether the court of appeals erred in holding that Respondent Colorado Division of Property Taxation, Department of Local Affairs, State of Colorado ("DPT") correctly declined to extend the intangible property exemption in section 39-3-118, C.R.S. (2012), and the cost cap valuation method in section 39-1-103(13), C.R.S. (2012), to Petitioner Qwest Corporation's property. We affirm the court of appeals'...
Justice HOBBS delivered the Opinion of the Court. 1 In this case, reviewing the decision of the court of appeals in 17 West Mill St., LLC v. Shaw, 2011 WL 2321430, ___ P.3d ___ (Colo.App.2011), 1 we construe section 38-39-102(8), C.R.S. (2012), as requiring proof of actual fraud by a preponderance of the evidence in order to void a public trustee's release of the lien of a deed of trust pursuant to a written request. The statute provides that, "[i]f the written request to release the lien...
JUSTICE COATS delivered the Opinion of the Court. 1 Dooly sought review of the court of appeals judgment in People v. Dooly, No. 10CA1751, 2011 WL 3717286 (Colo.App. Aug. 25, 2011) (not published pursuant to C.A.R. 35(f)), which affirmed the district court's dismissal of his application for postconviction relief. The district court denied Dooly's request for new counsel and instead granted his existing counsel's motion to dismiss his application altogether, on grounds that the issues it...
Justice RICE delivered the Opinion of the Court. 1 The public school financing system enacted by the General Assembly complies with the Colorado Constitution. It is rationally related to the constitutional mandate that the General Assembly provide a "thorough and uniform" system of public education. Colo. Const. art. IX, 2 (the "Education Clause"). It also affords local school districts control over locally-raised funds and therefore over "instruction in the public schools." Colo. Const....
JUSTICE COATS delivered the Opinion of the Court. 1 The Attorney Regulation Counsel sought review of the Presiding Disciplinary Judge's order granting summary judgment in favor of Respondent Greene. The PDJ found that all of the claims in the complaint for attorney discipline should have been joined and adjudicated along with the claims raised in a previous complaint, and therefore they were barred according to the doctrine of claim preclusion. 2 Because none of the claims alleged in the...
JUSTICE BOATRIGHT delivered the Opinion of the Court. 1 In this dependency and neglect case, we review a court of appeals opinion affirming the termination of the father's parental rights and reversing the termination of the mother's parental rights on the grounds that the trial court erred by allowing foster parent intervenors to participate fully in the termination hearing. People in Interest of A.M., No. 10CA522, slip op. at 17, ___ P.3d ___, ___, 2010 WL 5621076 (Colo.App. Dec. 23,...
JUSTICE EID delivered the Opinion of the Court. 1 Respondents Christopher Roinestad and Gerald Fitz-Gerald were overcome by poisonous hydrogen sulfide gas while cleaning a large grease clog in a sewer near the Hog's Breath Saloon & Restaurant ("Hog's Breath"). The district court concluded that Hog's Breath caused respondents' injuries by dumping substantial amounts of cooking grease into the sewer, thereby creating a five- to eight-foot grease clog and consequent build-up of hydrogen sulfide...
JUSTICE RICE delivered the Opinion of the Court. 1 In this contract action, we hold that the court of appeals erred when it held that the record designated by Respondent DLR Group, Inc. ("DLR") satisfied C.A.R. 10(b). DLR should have designated the entire trial transcript in this case along with all of the admitted exhibits to provide the appellate court with the necessary information to determine whether the evidence sufficiently supported the jury's verdict in favor of Petitioner Northstar...
