Archuleta County and Colorado Counties Inc. have asked the Colorado Supreme Court to review a 2022 appellate court ruling that lets a person involved in litigation with a public entity use the Colorado Open Records Act to obtain documents relevant to that litigation from the public entity.

The Colorado Court of Appeals failed to recognize “the profound implications of its decision,” argued CCI attorney Andrew Ringel in an amicus brief filed earlier this month.

In December, a three-judge panel of the Colorado Court of Appeals rejected arguments made by the Archuleta County clerk that CORA cannot be used to supplant the discovery process in civil litigation. The judges upheld a district court order in favor of Pagosa Springs attorney Matt Roane, who requested the recording of an Archuleta County Commission meeting while suing the board.

The Court of Appeals said the Colorado Supreme Court’s 1980 ruling in Martinelli v. District Court “stands for the proposition that CORA does not bar production of documents otherwise producible in civil litigation. It does not support Archuleta’s contention that individuals litigating against public entities are precluded from obtaining documents from those entities through CORA during the pendency of the litigation.”

The CCI brief says the state’s second-highest court failed to give district courts guidance on how to manage CORA and discovery “in an appropriate fashion.”