# Colorado Court of Appeals

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 by the Colorado General Assembly under Article VI, Section 1 of the Constitution of Colorado.
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

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. 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.

## Structure

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

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

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.

## Judges

The Colorado Court of Appeals, located in Denver, has 22 judges. 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 | Judge | 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 | 2032 | 2034 | Bill Owens (R) | Michigan |
| 7th | Jerry N. Jones | 1961 (age 63–64) | July 5, 2006 | 2032 | 2033 | Bill Owens (R) | Denver |
| 5th | Maria Teresa Fox | 1966 (age 58–59) | January 11, 2011 | 2030 | 2038 | Bill Ritter (D) | South Texas |
| 8th | Stephanie Dunn | – | November 23, 2012 | 2032 | – | John Hickenlooper (D) | Denver |
| 10th | Anthony J. Navarro | 1971 (age 53–54) | January 18, 2013 | 2032 | 2043 | John Hickenlooper (D) | Yale |
| 2nd | Elizabeth L. Harris | 1966 (age 58–59) | July 23, 2015 | 2026 | 2038 | John Hickenlooper (D) | NYU |
| 4th | Rebecca R. Freyre | (1959-12-09) December 9, 1959 (age 65) | November 16, 2015 | 2026 | 2031 | John Hickenlooper (D) | Denver |
| 20th | Craig R. Welling | 1970 (age 54–55) | January 16, 2017 | 2028 | 2042 | John Hickenlooper (D) | Colorado |
| 17th | Ted C. Tow III | 1967 (age 57–58) | February 13, 2018 | 2028 | 2039 | John Hickenlooper (D) | Wayne |
| 14th | Lino S. Lipinsky de Orlov | 1958 (age 66–67) | January 9, 2019 | 2030 | 2030 | John Hickenlooper (D) | NYU |
| 3rd | Matthew D. Grove | 1976 (age 48–49) | January 9, 2019 | 2030 | 2048 | John Hickenlooper (D) | Colorado |
| 19th | Neeti V. Pawar | 1969 (age 55–56) | March 8, 2019 | 2030 | 2041 | Jared Polis (D) | Southern Illinois |
| 11th | Jaclyn Casey Brown | 1981 (age 43–44) | May 31, 2019 | 2030 | 2053 | Jared Polis (D) | St. Louis |
| 1st | Sueanna P. Johnson | 1975 (age 49–50) | February 13, 2020 | 2030 | 2047 | Jared Polis (D) | Colorado |
| 12th | Christina F. Gomez | 1974 (age 50–51) | February 27, 2020 | 2030 | 2046 | Jared Polis (D) | Harvard |
| 18th | David H. Yun | 1967 (age 57–58) | March 2, 2020 | 2030 | 2039 | Jared Polis (D) | Colorado |
| 6th | W. Eric Kuhn | 1973 (age 51–52) | August 16, 2021 | 2032 | 2045 | Jared Polis (D) | Denver |
| 22nd | Timothy J. Schutz | 1962 (age 62–63) | January 1, 2022 | 2032 | 2034 | Jared Polis (D) | North Dakota |
| 16th | Karl L. Schock | 1981 (age 43–44) | November 7, 2022 | 2026 | 2053 | Jared Polis (D) | Colorado |
| 15th | Katharine E. Lum | (1983-11-30) November 30, 1983 (age 41) | November 16, 2022 | 2026 | 2055 | Jared Polis (D) | Berkeley |
| 13th | Pax L. Moultrie | 1979 (age 45–46) | January 1, 2024 | 2026 | 2051 | Jared Polis (D) | Denver |
| 21st | Grant T. Sullivan | 1984 (age 40–41) | January 1, 2024 | 2026 | 2056 | Jared Polis (D) | Colorado |
* ↑ 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.