Colorado Court of Appeals: 3rd Floor

The Colorado Court of Appeals is the intermediate-level appellate court for the state of Colorado. It was established by statute in 1891, and abolished in 1905. But re-established in 1913, and re-abolished in 1917 and established its current form again in 1970 by the Colorado General Assembly under Article VI, Section 1 of the Constitution of Colorado.

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, appeals from water courts, 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.

The court is based in Denver, but is authorized to sit in any county seat to hear cases. It has 22 judges. The judges serve eight-year terms and are subject to retention elections.

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.

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.

World Justice News show the Colorado Court of Appeals Hearings free. For the link to view the Colorado Court of Appeals Hearings please click here to see our daily schedule.