Colorado Law Blog

The Colorado Supreme Court ruled today that the Colorado Constitution's bans on certain political contributions from corporations and labor groups violate the First Amendment in light of the U.S. Supreme Court's Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision in January.

The ruling was made in response to interrogatories Gov. Bill Ritter submitted to Colorado's high court last month, asking it to clarify two sections of the state constitution. This followed the historic ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in Citizens United.

The Colorado Supreme Court found both sections unconstitutional under Citizens United: Article XXVIII, Section 3(4), which forbids corporations and labor groups from giving funds to a political party or candidate or to expressly advocating on behalf of a campaign; and Article XXVIII, Section 6(2), which forbids corporations and labor groups from funding electioneering communications.

The court's decision today frees corporations and labor unions to make independent contibutions expressly advocating for candidates in addition to issues.

Posted by Linda Chalat at 4:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Two new ballot initiatives could change the way Coloradans buy booze and pot. The first is a plan to rearrange many of the regulations limiting how and where full-strength beer, wine and liquor can be sold in Colorado. The second initiative is a proposal to legalize, tax and regulate the sale of marijuana.

A bill allowing convenience stores to sell full-strength beer instead of limiting them to lower alcohol 3.2 percent beer died in committee earlier this year. Liquor retailers leery of competition from grocery chains and big-box retailers say they anticipate public outcry over a proposal that would so broadly expand access to alcohol. The initiative, filed just weeks before the deadline, would have to garner 76,047 signatures to make the ballot.

Initiative 47, backed by the Colorado-based Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation, is far broader than the group's last statewide attempt in 2006 to legalize the possession of small amounts of pot. That proposal failed by a wide margin, with 58 percent of voters voting in opposition. The new initiative will also be required to garner sufficient signatures to appear on the ballot.

Posted by Linda Chalat at 1:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

In a new survey of divorce lawyers, 81 percent say they have seen an increase in the use of social networking evidence during the past five years. The survey, conducted by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, pinpoints Facebook as the "unrivaled leader for online divorce evidence" with 66 percent citing it as a primary source, according to a news release about the survey.

Posted by Linda Chalat at 11:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A Broomfield, Colorado company that misled consumers nationwide into believing it was a legitimate law firm has been permanently shut down by Denver District Judge Herbert Stern.In addition, Stern ordered the company, Legal Aid, also known as Legal Aid US, and owner Daniel R. Ketelsen to pay $238,406 in restitution to consumers. Judge Stern also added $100,000 in civil penalties for a total damage award of $338,406.

The companies, which were touted by Ketelsen over the Internet, required up-front payments of $399 to $1,000 from about 400 consumers. For "rush" legal services, the company increased the fee by as much as $300. According to investigators from the Colorado attorney general's office, Ketelsen and his employees were not lawyers.

Only after Ketelsen and Legal Aid received money from consumers via credit card or MoneyGram did they send a written agreement that disclosed to the clients that they were not attorneys and did not represent consumers in court.

If you are retaining a Colorado attorney to represent you, take a few moments to determine the status of his/her license to practice law. Click here to search for an attorney's disciplinary history. An attorney must have a status of "active" and in good standing in order to practice law within the state of Colorado.

Posted by Linda Chalat at 7:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A hospital stay could prove harmful to your health - or even fatal. Some 48,000 patients die annually from pneumonia or blood poisoning picked up in the hospital, according to a recent research study. And hospital-acquired illnesses translated into 2.3 million extra patient days in hospitals, at a cost of $8.1 billion in 2006, according to the study from the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics and Policy at Resources for the Future, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank.

The research study is one of the first to detail the ever-worsening problem of hospital-acquired illness. It notes that hospital-acquired infections are adding to the spiraling cost of health care in the United States. Some 1.7 million healthcare-associated infections are diagnosed each year, researchers said.

Healthcare-associated infections are infections that patients acquire during the course of receiving treatment for other conditions within a healthcare setting. Healthcare-associated infections are one of the top ten leading causes of death in the United States. As the nation's health protection agency, CDC is committed to helping all Americans receive the best and safest care when they are treated at a hospital or other healthcare facility.

The blood infection sepsis killed one-fifth of the patients who contracted it following surgery, according to the study which was reported in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

The researchers looked at hospital discharge records from 69 million patients who stayed at U.S. hospitals between 1998 and 2006, and found that the patients who got sepsis after surgery stayed on average 11 days longer, at a cost of about $32,900 per patient. Patients who caught pneumonia in the hospital stayed an additional two weeks at a cost of $46,400. More than 11 percent of the pneumonia patients died, according to the researchers.
The Center for Disease Control reports on the nature of the healthcare-associated infections. Of these infections:

• 32 percent of all healthcare-associated infection are urinary tract infections


• 22 percent are surgical site infections


• 15 percent are pneumonia (lung infections)


• 14 percent are bloodstream infections

Posted by Linda Chalat at 4:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Nutritionists have long warned of the dangers posed by consuming the All-American hot dog - excess fat, sodium and preservatives to name a few. Now, the American Academy of Pediatrics wants foods like hot dogs to come with a warning label -- not because of their nutritional risks but because they pose a choking hazard to babies and children.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission requires labels on toys with small parts alerting people not to give them to kids under three years of age. Yet there are no required warnings on food, though more than half of non-fatal choking episodes involve food, according to the physicians' group.

The National Hot Dog & Sausage Council supports the academy's call to better educate parents and caregivers about choking prevention. But the organization questions whether warning labels are needed, asserting that more than half of hot dogs sold in stores already have choking-prevention tips on their packages, advising parents to cut them into small pieces.

The Food and Drug Administration, which has authority to recall products it considers "unfit for food," plans to review the new statement, but recent issues with food safety demonstrate the lack of oversight provided by the agency.

Posted by Linda Chalat at 4:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)