CML files amicus curiae briefs to support members

In the past month, CML filed “friend of the court” briefs in three appellate court cases to support its members and the broader interest of all Colorado municipalities.

In Kavannaugh v. Telluride Locals Coalition Petitioners’ Committee, the Town of Telluride is seeking to overturn a holding by Colorado’s Court of Appeals that a landowner can get around the town’s land use procedures by using the constitutional power of initiative to modify a planned unit development plan. That power only extends to legislation and not administrative matters, but the court viewed the amendment here as a rezoning that has been classified as legislation since 1981. CML argued in its brief that the Colorado Supreme Court should require courts to engage in a case-by-case analysis of all proposed initiatives and allow the classification of site-specific land use matters as administrative.

In Mostellar v. City of Colorado Springs, the City of Colorado Springs is defending a Court of Appeals decision that affirmed the dismissal of an injury lawsuit against it due to an untimely notice of claim. The plaintiff in the case tripped over the base of a removed bus stop sign on a sidewalk in Manitou Springs, but the sign was the responsibility of Colorado Springs under an intergovernmental agreement. Although the plaintiff sent a timely notice of claim to Manitou Springs, they did not send a notice of claim to Colorado Springs within the time required by the Colorado Governmental Immunity Act. In its brief to the Colorado Supreme Court, CML argued for maintaining the longstanding rule that a failure to provide a timely notice of claim to the proper entity is a jurisdictional bar to suit.

In Feet Forward v. City of Boulder, the City of Boulder’s camping bans were challenged as violating various individual rights under the Colorado Constitution. The city successfully defeated the claims in the trial court. CML’s brief to the Colorado Court of Appeals argued that the rights in question are no different than those guaranteed by the federal constitution and the U.S. Supreme Court last year rejected similar claims. CML emphasized the need for municipalities to be able to regulate public spaces and highlighted the work that municipalities have done to respond to homelessness.

CML’s Amicus Program focuses on cases of particular legal significance to a broad range of municipalities. The CML Amicus Library contains briefs submitted to courts by CML from 1950 to the present.