Local governments in Colorado are fighting two CORA-related court rulings they fear “will have far-reaching detrimental effects on nearly all aspects of government operations” if upheld.

In a brief filed recently with the Colorado Court of Appeals, the Colorado Municipal League joined city of Loveland officials in asking for the immediate review of a Larimer County District Court judge’s “manifestly absurd” interpretations of the attorney-client and deliberative process privileges in the Colorado Open Records Act.

Earlier this year, Judge Gregory Lammons found that emails protected from public disclosure by one or the other privilege nonetheless must be provided to a former city of Loveland paralegal discussed in the messages, which were exchanged among city officials. Lammons cited language in CORA requiring the disclosure of otherwise non-disclosable government records to a “person in interest.”