Court Opinion

ID: 9601884
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 01:50:31.899939+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:59:58.869410
License: Public Domain

ERICKSON, Justice,
specially concurring in the result:
Jones v. Hildebrant, 191 Colo. 1, 550 P.2d 339 (1976), was the subject of review by the Supreme Court of the United States at least to the extent that an opinion was issued dismissing certiorari as being improvidently granted. Justice White, joined by Justices Brennan and Marshall, dissented from the dismissal of certiorari. Jones v. Hildebrant, 432 U.S. 183, 97 S.Ct. 2283, 53 L.Ed.2d 209 (1977). Maryland v. Baltimore Radio Show, 338 U.S. 912, 70 S.Ct. 252, 94 L.Ed. 562 (1950), stands as precedent for the proposition that the denial of certiorari review only signifies that the case before the Supreme Court of the United States was not properly postured for review. The opinion authored by Justice Rovira overrules Jones v. Hildebrant, supra, and suggests that Colorado courts may grant broad relief under an omnibus constitutional tort claim which finds its genesis in the Civil Rights Act of 1871 and 42 U.S.C. § 1983.
The suggested remedies included in Justice Rovira’s opinion are not necessary to reach the result in this case. This Court should not address or seek to resolve issues which are not properly before us and which do not constitute an actual case or controversy. It is not our province to give legal advice.
*470Accordingly, I concur in the result. The trial court erred in ruling that a state wrongful death action was the plaintiff’s sole method of recovery in Colorado. I also agree that the trial court properly dismissed the claims against the Chief of Police, Arthur Dill, and against the City and County of Denver. Dismissal of the claims predicated on 43 U.S.C. § 1985 was also proper under the record which is before us.
Chief Justice HODGES joins me in this special concurrence.