Opinion ID: 6351648
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Suits for Mandamus Relief

Text: ¶20 C.R.C.P. 106(a)(2) permits a person to petition the district court for an order to compel a . . . governmental body . . . to perform an act which the law specially enjoins as a duty resulting from an office, trust, or station, or to compel the admission of a party to the use and enjoyment of a right or office to which he is entitled, and from which he is unlawfully precluded by such . . . governmental body. ¶21 Mandamus is an extraordinary remedy that requires public officials to perform plain legal duties they owe by virtue of their offices. Bd. of Cnty. Comm’rs v. Cnty. Rd. Users Ass’n, 11 P.3d 432, 437 (Colo. 2000). While mandamus is available to compel the performance of “a purely ministerial duty involving no discretionary right” and requiring no “exercise of judgment,” it is not available to compel the performance of a task that “is discretionary or involves the exercise of judgment.” Id. An individual seeking mandamus relief bears a demanding burden requiring satisfaction of a three-part test: (1) the individual must have “a clear right” to the relief sought; (2) the party sued must have “a clear duty” to perform the act requested; and (3) there can be no other remedy available. Id. ¶22 We inspect Owens’s request with these tenets in mind. Before we get to the crux of the matter, however, we take a brief hiatus to dispose of the Attorney General’s mootness claim. 10