Colorado

‘Deeply held beliefs’: Colorado designer before Supreme Court says she cannot condone LGBT weddings

Published

1 year ago

November 26, 2022

‘Deeply held beliefs’: Colorado designer before Supreme Court says she cannot condone LGBT weddings

Customized web site and graphic designer Lorie Smith does not need to be compelled to create web sites for
same-sex
weddings because of her Christian religion, a problem the
Supreme Court docket
will debate subsequent month in a free speech case difficult
Colorado
‘s anti-discrimination regulation.

“I really like working with individuals from all totally different walks of life. And I’ve purchasers who establish as
LGBT
,” Smith advised the Washington Examiner, saying her case is not about outright refusing service to members of the LGBT group. “I simply can’t create for each message.”

Smith claims Colorado’s anti-discrimination regulation violates her proper to free speech over same-sex marriages, which she contends are opposite to her sincerely held spiritual beliefs. Whereas Smith has not had the prospect to develop her companies to incorporate marriage ceremony webpages together with her enterprise, 303 Inventive, because of the state regulation, she mentioned she’s had aspirations to take action since she was younger.

COLORADO WEB DESIGNER’S SUPREME COURT CASE PITS FREE SPEECH AGAINST COMMERCIAL CONDUCT

Internet designer Lorie Smith is proven in her workplace on Monday, Nov. 7, 2022, within the southwest a part of Littleton, Colorado.

David Zalubowski/AP

“I need to create for weddings, however I can not as a result of Colorado is censoring and compelling my speech and forcing me to create customized messages and expressions … celebrating messages that violate my deeply held beliefs,” Smith mentioned.

The small enterprise proprietor has been preventing to delve into the work for weddings for almost six years however has been preempted by the state’s
Anti-Discrimination Act
, the identical regulation that was used towards
Masterpiece Cakeshop
proprietor
Jack Phillips
in quite a few lawsuits much like Smith’s case after he refused to create customized marriage ceremony muffins that remember same-sex unions.

Nonetheless, some teams, such because the American Civil Liberties Union, imagine Smith’s option to enter the general public market ought to disallow her from refusing particular requests, even when the content material defies her honest Christian beliefs.

David Cole, the nationwide authorized director of the ACLU, attended a
debate final month
hosted by the authorized group representing Smith, the Alliance Defending Freedom. Cole contended that Colorado’s regulation solely requires companies to serve everybody and doesn’t infringe on free speech, arguing Smith can be inside her proper to incorporate an announcement on her web sites saying she disagrees with LGBT marriage, however she can’t refuse service to clients based mostly on sexual orientation.

“You possibly can’t say, ‘I’m serving the general public, however I’m not going to serve homosexual individuals,’” Cole mentioned. “You possibly can’t say, ‘I’m going to offer a service to opposite-sex {couples}, however I received’t present that very same service to same-sex {couples},’ as a result of now you’re not open to the general public.”

The ADF’s CEO and president, Kristen Okay. Waggoner, additionally partook within the debate and was questioned by Cole. The ACLU panelist contended {that a} ruling favoring Smith may enable a baker who’s “racist” to refuse service of a birthday cake to a black household, noting that the “First Modification protects racist beliefs as effectively.”

However Waggoner rebuked Cole’s argument in an interview with the Washington Examiner, contending that Smith is asking the excessive courtroom for content-based exemptions and is not refusing service based mostly on a shopper’s sexual orientation.

“Lori is not promoting hamburgers or cups of espresso. She’s creating. She’s a storyteller,” Waggoner mentioned.

The legal professional mentioned the ACLU is “disingenuously claiming” {that a} ruling favoring Smith would “take us again to really despicable and ugly instances in our nation’s historical past, [when] individuals had been denied entry to important items and companies based mostly on who they had been.”

Requested what would grow to be of Colorado’s regulation if the Supreme Court docket granted Smith’s request, Waggoner mentioned “our hope” is {that a} win for Smith would uphold the First Modification whereas permitting the regulation to stay in place.

“The issue is not the regulation itself. It is how Colorado was making use of the regulation to Lori and to different artists by making an attempt to compel their expression, and that is merely not the way in which these public lodging legal guidelines are supposed to be enforced,” Waggoner mentioned, including {that a} victory for Smith would additionally defend the rights of any LGBT artists from being compelled to create messages they could disagree with.

Smith tried to overturn a decrease courtroom ruling when her counsel filed to the U.S. Court docket of Appeals for the tenth Circuit in 2017. A panel voted 2-1 that Colorado regulation states she should “work with all individuals no matter … sexual orientation.”

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

In 2018, the Supreme Court docket gave a partial victory to cake baker Phillips, saying the Colorado Civil Rights Fee had acted with anti-religious bias towards him. Nonetheless, the courtroom didn’t rule on the broader situation of whether or not a enterprise can invoke spiritual objections to refuse service to LGBT purchasers.

Arguments over the case shall be heard by the excessive courtroom on Monday, Dec. 5. A choice within the case doubtless will not be posted for months and can doubtless come earlier than June 2023.

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Colorado

Waivers don’t shield ski resorts that violate state law from liability, Colorado Supreme Court rules

Published

5 hours ago

May 20, 2024

Press Room

Waivers don’t shield ski resorts that violate state law from liability, Colorado Supreme Court rules

The pages of fine print that skiers and snowboarders must agree to when hitting the slopes in Colorado — waivers of liability — do not protect ski resorts when resorts violate state laws or regulations, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled Monday.

The ruling, handed down in the case of a 16-year-old girl who fell from a ski lift at Crested Butte Mountain Resort and was paralyzed two years ago, likely ends a years-long push by the ski industry to use waivers to shield resorts against almost all lawsuits, even in cases where ski areas violated state law, experts said.

“It’s a sea change, in terms of ski areas’ responsibilities and consumers’ ability to be protected from ski areas’ negligence,” said Evan Banker, a personal injury attorney at Denver firm Chalat Hatten & Banker. “…From a consumer protection standpoint, it’s huge. Because liability breeds responsibility.”

In their 5-2 decision, the Colorado Supreme Court justices considered a lawsuit brought by Annie Miller and her father, Michael Miller, over Annie’s 30-foot fall from a lift at Crested Butte, which is owned by Vail Resorts. The father and daughter from Oklahoma boarded the Paradise Express chairlift, a four-seat, high-speed lift at the resort, on March 16, 2022.

Annie couldn’t get properly seated, and grabbed the chairlift to keep from falling. Her father and others began to yell for the lift to be stopped as she was dragged forward, but the lift continued with Annie hanging from the chair and her father trying to pull her back to safety.

Eventually, Annie fell and landed on her back. Even then, the lift did not stop, and Michael Miller was forced to ride to the top and ski down to his daughter, who suffered severe injuries and was paralyzed after the fall.

Michael Miller brought a negligence lawsuit against Crested Butte, arguing that the resort employees should have stopped the lift well before Annie fell and that failing to do so violated Colorado’s Ski Safety Act and the Passenger Tramway Safety Act. A lower court ruled much of Miller’s claim was invalid, and he appealed to the Colorado Supreme Court.

Monday’s ruling partially reversed the lower-court decision and allows Miller to continue to pursue the negligence lawsuit against the resort.

Sara Huey, a spokeswoman for Vail Resorts, declined to comment on the ruling because the Millers’ lawsuit is ongoing. In court filings, attorneys for Vail Resorts argued that the lawsuit misstated the precedent in Colorado around private liability waivers, which skiers and snowboarders must agree to when buying lift tickets and passes.

“Colorado courts have upheld private recreational waiver agreements, even where the plaintiff could have (or did) point to a statute regulating the activity,” attorney Michael Hofmann wrote. “The existence of recreational safety regulation has never been enough to prohibit private parties from agreeing that a waiver defense will be available.”

“Big victory for ski safety”

More broadly, the state high court’s decision likely ends efforts by the ski industry to expand the protections that waivers of liability give ski areas.

“This was a big victory for ski safety in Colorado,” said Bruce Braley, who represented the Millers. “It says unequivocally that ski areas cannot force skiers and snowboarders to sign away their rights to protection under the statutes and regulations that govern the ski industry in Colorado.”

The ruling turns back the clock on liability in some Colorado ski accident cases, Banker said.

“For many, many years… everyone sort of agreed that when you sign that waiver you are waiving claims of negligence, but you can always still make claims if the ski area fails to do the things it is required to by law, like maintaining the lift properly,” Banker said.

But since about 2017, the ski industry has been successfully challenging that understanding through targeted litigation, winning key court cases that strengthened the protection afforded by waivers and pushing to essentially provide complete immunity for anything that could happen at a ski resort unless there was gross negligence, Banker and Braley said.

“So what this has done is change that,” Banker said. “It brings us back to the landscape everyone understood it to be many years ago. Which is, you can waive claims of negligence, but the ski area doesn’t get to avoid its legal responsibility, its responsibility in statute and regulations, by having you sign a waiver.”

Adrienne Saia Isaac, a spokeswoman for the National Ski Areas Association, a Lakewood nonprofit that represents more than 300 sk- area members, said it is “too early to tell how the ruling will affect the Colorado ski industry.”

The association argued in court filings both that the lift operator at Crested Butte was not required to stop the lift in response to Annie Miller’s mishap, and that liability waivers do not allow ski areas to get around statutory regulations.

“While chairlift accidents within the reasonable control of ski area operators will never be eliminated, they are rare,” wrote Brian Birenbach, an attorney in Breckenridge representing the National Ski Areas Association. “This will not change by the continued enforcement of liability waivers in the courts.”

Two dissenting voices

Two justices dissented from the majority’s Monday ruling, arguing that the state Supreme Court should have upheld the lower court’s ruling in Miller’s lawsuit.

Justice Monica Márquez wrote in the dissent that the type of negligence Miller claimed, “negligence per se,” or negligence in violation of a specific statute or regulation, is practically no different from ordinary negligence — that is, negligence that violates a general reasonable duty of care — and so shouldn’t be treated differently from a claim of ordinary negligence.

“The dissent essentially says, ‘It’s still negligence, and you can waive claims of ordinary negligence, so there is nothing special about a per se duty of care,’ whereas what the majority opinion said is, ‘When the legislature speaks and sets out duties of care, it means something,’” Banker said.

Braley said the ruling should encourage Colorado ski areas to pay closer attention to safety laws and regulations.

“I think the industry as a whole is going to have to accept responsibility,” he said, “and take more seriously these statutory and regulatory requirements they have to comply with to provide safe passage on chair lifts in Colorado.”

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Colorado

Large hail, damaging winds and tornadoes expected across eastern Colorado

Published

12 hours ago

May 20, 2024

Press Room

Large hail, damaging winds and tornadoes expected across eastern Colorado

Denver weather: Strong to severe storms possible for the eastern plains

03:14

All modes of severe weather are expected across the Eastern Plains of Colorado later this afternoon and evening.

Denver, Fort Collins, and Greeley are in the marginal zone. Damaging winds and large hail (up to ~1″ diameter) will be possible as storms get organized. As storms push east of the metro area, they will enter a more favorable environment with the potential for a few tornadoes and hail up to 2″+.

An enhanced risk (level 3/5) has been issued for Sterling, Julesburg, Holyoke, and Wray. This is where the greatest confidence exists for the worst of the storms.

Storms look to develop between 2-4 PM across the Front Range. The severe potential will linger until about 10-11PM across the Eastern Plains.

Joe Ruch

Joe Ruch is a First Alert Meteorologist with CBS News Colorado. Catch his latest First Alert Weather updates on TV and on our free streaming service, CBS News Colorado. Check out his bio and send him an email.

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Colorado

CO PO Calendar | May 20-26

Published

19 hours ago

May 20, 2024

Press Room

CoPo’s weekly political calendar will help you find political and public-policy events throughout Colorado. It includes candidate and issue campaign events, public policy meetings, court hearings, state and local party conventions, assemblies, debates, rallies, parades, speaking engagements, traveling dignitary appearances, water meetings, book signings, county commission hearings, city council meetings and more. As a subscriber, you can submit your own events for publication to calendar@coloradopolitics.com for free publication on this page. Please include who, what, when, where and why for each event.

(Party designations: R-Republican, D-Democrat, L-Libertarian, G-Green, S-Socialist, U-Unity, F-Forward.)

MONDAY, MAY 20

· (R) Jefferson County Republican Party: Men’s Luncheon, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., 565 Union Blvd., Lakewood

· (R) Broomfield County Republican Party: Republican Women Meeting & Luncheon, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., 500 Interlocken Blvd., Broomfield

· DRCOG: Transportation Advisory Committee, 1:30 p.m., 1001 17th Ave., Ste. 700, Denver

· (D) Jefferson County Democratic Party: Liberal Libations, 4-6 p.m., 11911 W. 6th Ave., Lakewood

· (D) Denver Democratic Party: Tech Office Hours, 5-6 p.m., visit https://www.denverdemocrats.org/county-party-calendar for Zoom link

· (D) Montrose County Democratic Party: Central Committee Meeting, 6-7 p.m., 1500 E. Main St., Montrose

· (R) Denver Republican Party: HD 9 Monthly Meeting, 6:30-8 p.m., 1660 S. Albion St., Denver

TUESDAY, MAY 21

· (R) Boulder County Republican Party: Boulder Republican Women, 11:15 a.m.-12:45 p.m., 4760 28th St., Boulder

· Colorado Children’s Campaign: End of Session Party, 4-6 p.m., 1200 Broadway, Denver, contact sarahb@coloradokids.org for more information

· (R) Weld County Republican Party: Executive Committee Meeting, 6-7 p.m., 361 71st Ave., Greeley

· (S) Denver Democratic Socialists of America: Abolition Working Group Meeting, 6-7 p.m., visit denverdsa.org/events for Zoom link

· (R) Jefferson County Republican Party: HD 24 Committee Meeting, 6-7 p.m., contact 303-277-1113 for more information

· (D) Denver Democratic Party: Executive Committee Meeting, 6-8 p.m., 690 Colorado Blvd., Denver

· (D) Arapahoe County Democratic Party: Rep. Chad Clifford Town Hall, 6-8 p.m., 7272 S. Eagle St., Centennial

· (R) Douglas County Republican Party: Executive Committee Meeting, 6-9 p.m., 9292 S. Ridgeline Blvd., Littleton

· (D) Arapahoe County Democratic Party: HD 61 Monthly Meeting, 6:30-8 p.m., 5428 S. Parker Rd., Aurora

· (D) Denver Democratic Party: Executive Committee Meeting, 6:30-8 p.m., 690 Colorado Blvd., Denver

· (R) Log Cabin Republicans: Meeting, 6:30-8:30 p.m., 221 W. 13th Ave., Denver

· (R) Denver Republican Party: HD 2 Monthly Meeting, 7-8 p.m., 700 S. Franklin St., Denver

· (D) Grand County Democratic Party: Monthly Meeting, 7-8 p.m., contact chair@grandcountydems.org for more information

WEDNESDAY, MAY 22

· Lincoln Club of Colorado: 2024 Legislative Session Recap with Rose Pugliese and Cleave Simpson, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., 5400 E. Yale Ave., Denver, cost $25, RSVP at https://secure.anedot.com/lincolnclubofcolorado/donatetothelincolnclubofcolorado

· (D) Colorado Democratic Party: South Asian Initiative, 4-5 p.m., visit https://www.coloradodems.org/calendar-of-events/ for Zoom link

· Colorado Black Women for Political Action: End of Legislative Session 2024 Happy Hour, 5:30-7:30 p.m., 2736 Welton St., Denver

· (D) Arapahoe County Democratic Party: Sen. Michaelson-Jenet Town Hall, 6-7 p.m., visit https://www.arapahoedems.org/ for RSVP link

· (L) Denver Libertarian Party: Liberty on the Rocks, 6-9 p.m., 727 E. 16th Ave., Denver

· (R) Denver Republican Party: HD 7 & 8 Meeting, contact 1vc@denvergop.org for more information

· (S) Denver Democratic Socialists of America: Orientation Call, 7-8:30 p.m., register in advance at http://bit.ly/DDSA-Orientation

· (D) Denver Democratic Party: Healthcare Study Group, 7-8:30 p.m., contact belwood0328@gmail.com for more information

· (D) Arapahoe County Democratic Party: HD 37 Meeting, 7-8:30 p.m., 7272 S. Eagle St., Centennial

THURSDAY, MAY 23

· Colorado General Assembly: Legislative Oversight Committee Concerning Tax Policy & TaskForce, 1 p.m., 200 E. Colfax Ave., SCR 354, Denver

· (D) Chaffee County Democratic Party: Monthly Meeting, 5:30-7 p.m., contact info@chaffeecountydemocrats.org for more information

· (R) Jefferson County Republican Party: HD 30 Meeting, 6-8 p.m., contact 303-277-1113 for more information

· Rep. Chad Clifford Town Hall, 6-8 p.m., 6060 S. Quebec St., Greenwood Village

· (D) Weld County Democratic Party: Executive Committee Meeting, 6-8 p.m., contact info@weldcountydems.org for more information

· (D) Denver Democratic Party: HD 2 Monthly Meeting, 6:30-8 p.m., 1955 E. Arizona Ave., Denver

· (D) Jefferson County Democratic Party: HD 27 Monthly Meeting, 6:30-8 p.m., visit https://www.jeffcodems.org/calendar for Zoom link

· (D) Arapahoe County Democratic Party: HD 41 Monthly Meeting, 6:30-8 p.m., 15200 E. Girard Ave., Ste. 1400, Aurora

· Latinas Increasing Political Strength: Qunceañera, 6:30-9:30 p.m., 3034 Larimer St., Denver

· (R) CU Republicans: Meeting, 7-8 p.m., contact coloradocr@gmail.com for more information

· (R) Boulder County Republican Party: Executive Committee Meeting, contact twatson@bocogop.org for more information

FRIDAY, MAY 24

· DRCOG: Advisory Committee on Aging, 11 a.m., 1001 17th Ave., Ste. 700, Denver

· (R) Republicans @ Denver Athletic Club: Meeting, 12-1 p.m., 1325 Glenarm Pl., Denver

· (D) Colorado Democratic Party: RCV for Colorado Policy Committee, 2-3 p.m., visit https://rcvforcolorado-org.zoom.us/j/82762945516 to join the meeting

· (R) Jefferson County Republican Party: JeffCo EIC Zoom Meeting, 6:30-7:30 p.m., contact makeadifferenceinco@gmail.com for more information

SATURDAY, MAY 25

· (L) Boulder County Libertarian Party: Liberty Toastmasters, 10 a.m.-12 p.m., 315 S. Bowen St., Longmont

· (D) Denver Democratic Party: HD 7 Monthly Meeting, 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., 12000 E. 47th Ave., Denver

· (D) Jefferson County Democratic Party: Open House, 4-6 p.m., 393 S. Harlan St., Ste. 190, Lakewood

SUNDAY, MAY 26

· (S) Denver Democratic Socialists of America: Brunch & Podcast Discussion, 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m., contact info@denverdsa.org for more information

· Training Tomorrow’s Leaders Today: ‘CRAZY HAS A NAME’ Mental Health Awareness Month, 4-7 p.m., 13200 E. 14th Pl., Aurora, purchase tickets at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/crazy-has-a-name-tickets-869328754707?aff=oddtdtcreator

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