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Colorado Court of Appeals

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One of the Colorado Court of Appeals courtrooms in the Ralph L. Carr Colorado Judicial Center in Denver.

The Colorado Court of Appeals (Colo. App.) is the intermediate-level appellate court for the state of Colorado. It was initially established by statute in 1891 and was reestablished in its current form in 1970 [1] by the Colorado General Assembly under Article VI, Section 1 of the Constitution of Colorado.[2]

The Colorado Court of Appeals was first abolished in 1905, then reinstated in 1913, and abolished again in 1917. It has held its modern jurisdiction since 1970.

Jurisdiction

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The Court of Appeals has appellate jurisdiction primarily over final judgments of district courts acting as trial courts, and of approximately 33 kinds of administrative agency or board determinations.[3] It is bypassed in the case of death penalty appeals, cases in which a lower court has declared a law or ordinance to be unconstitutional, appeals from Public Utilities Commission decisions, certain appeals related to the initiative process, interlocutory relief, and the further appeal of cases already appealed from a county or municipal court to a district court judge, all of which are appealed directly to the Colorado Supreme Court.[4]

Structure

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There is a single geographical division of the Colorado Court of Appeals. The court sits in three-member divisions to decide cases. The chief judge, appointed by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, assigns judges to the divisions and rotates their assignments. The Colorado Court of Appeals does not have any internal subject-matter divisions, and it does not have "en banc" review of panel decisions as the federal United States courts of appeals do.

Location

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Colorado Court of Appeals in Denver

The court is based in Denver, but is authorized to sit in any county seat to hear cases. The court sends panels once a year to decide cases at the University of Colorado School of Law and the Sturm College of Law at the University of Denver to allow law students to observe the appellate process.

The court has two courtrooms in the Ralph L. Carr Colorado Judicial Center, located at 2 East 14th Avenue in Denver, Colorado.

Administration

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This court also has many others employees including support staff, secretaries, law clerks, reporters, and attorneys. There are 105 court employees, including the judges.

The Colorado Court of Appeals has heard more than 100 appellate cases each year since 2012. In the past two decades the state's Court of Appeals has experienced a dramatic increase in both caseload volume and delay. Because of this, case time is measured in terms of months and years.[citation needed]

Judges

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The Colorado Court of Appeals, located in Denver, has 22 judges.[5] The judges serve eight-year terms and are subject to retention elections. Each judge has a separate chambers located in the Ralph L. Carr Judicial Center.

Judicial
District[a]
Judge[6] Born Joined Term ends Mandatory retirement Appointed by Law school
9th Gilbert M. Román, Chief Judge (1962-09-15) September 15, 1962 (age 62) August 1, 2005 2024 2034 Bill Owens (R) Michigan
7th Jerry N. Jones 1961 (age 62–63) July 5, 2006 2024 2033 Bill Owens (R) Denver
5th Maria Teresa Fox 1966 (age 57–58) January 11, 2011 2030 2038 Bill Ritter (D) South Texas
8th Stephanie Dunn November 23, 2012 2024 John Hickenlooper (D) Denver
10th Anthony J. Navarro 1971 (age 52–53)[7] January 18, 2013 2024 2043 John Hickenlooper (D) Yale
2nd Elizabeth L. Harris 1966 (age 57–58) July 23, 2015 2026 2038 John Hickenlooper (D) NYU
4th Rebecca R. Freyre (1959-12-09) December 9, 1959 (age 64) November 16, 2015 2026 2031 John Hickenlooper (D) Denver
20th Craig R. Welling 1970 (age 53–54) January 16, 2017 2028 2042 John Hickenlooper (D) Colorado
17th Ted C. Tow III 1967 (age 56–57) February 13, 2018 2028 2039 John Hickenlooper (D) Wayne
14th Lino S. Lipinsky de Orlov 1958 (age 65–66) January 9, 2019 2030 2030 John Hickenlooper (D) NYU
3rd Matthew D. Grove 1976 (age 47–48) January 9, 2019 2030 2048 John Hickenlooper (D) Colorado
19th Neeti V. Pawar 1969 (age 54–55)[8] March 8, 2019 2030 2041 Jared Polis (D) Southern Illinois
11th Jaclyn Casey Brown 1981 (age 42–43) May 31, 2019 2030 2053 Jared Polis (D) St. Louis
1st Sueanna P. Johnson 1975 (age 48–49) February 13, 2020 2030 2047 Jared Polis (D) Colorado
12th Christina F. Gomez 1974 (age 49–50) February 27, 2020 2030 2046 Jared Polis (D) Harvard
18th David H. Yun 1967 (age 56–57) March 2, 2020 2030 2039 Jared Polis (D) Colorado
6th W. Eric Kuhn 1973 (age 50–51) August 16, 2021 2024 2045 Jared Polis (D) Denver
22nd Timothy J. Schutz 1962 (age 61–62) January 1, 2022 2024 2034 Jared Polis (D) North Dakota
16th Karl L. Schock 1981 (age 42–43)[9] November 7, 2022 2026 2053 Jared Polis (D) Colorado
15th Katharine E. Lum (1983-11-30) November 30, 1983 (age 40) November 16, 2022 2026 2055 Jared Polis (D) Berkeley
13th Pax L. Moultrie 1979 (age 44–45) January 1, 2024 2026 2051 Jared Polis (D) Denver
21st Grant T. Sullivan 1984 (age 39–40) January 1, 2024 2026 2056 Jared Polis (D) Colorado
  1. ^ Court of Appeals Judges are retained statewide, but each Judge is assigned to serve as a liaison between one of Colorado's judicial districts and the Court of Appeals.

References

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1. "Columbia Law Review Association, Inc." JSTOR. Columbia Law Review, n.d. Web. 8 Dec. 2014. 2. Smith, Eduard. "Court of Appeals." Duke Law Review, n.d. Web. 5 July 2013. 3. Bryson, Elizabeth. "Colorado Judicial Branch - Court of Appeals - Homepage." Colorado Judicial Branch - Court of Appeals - Homepage. Colorado Judicial Branch, n.d. Web. 1 Aug. 2015.

  1. ^ Colorado Revised Statutes section 13-4-101 et seq.
  2. ^ Constitution of Colorado Article VI, § 1
  3. ^ Colorado Revised Statutes section 13-4-102(2)
  4. ^ Colorado Revised Statutes section 13-4-102(1)
  5. ^ "Colorado Judicial Branch - Court of Appeals - Judges of the Court of Appeals".
  6. ^ "Judges of the Court of Appeals". Colorado Judicial Branch.
  7. ^ Tucker, Jeff (December 26, 2013). "Strong education values led Anthony Navarro to Yale and beyond". The Pueblo Chieftain.
  8. ^ "Neeti Pawar". Forbes.
  9. ^ Karlik, Michael (January 20, 2023). "Karl Schock, judge with 'big plans,' officially sworn in to state's Court of Appeals". Colorado Politics.
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