Posted by
NOTLEGALROADKILLYET on Tuesday, September 05, 2006 12:26:26 AM
An old Battalion Commander, whom I served as an Adjutant, both at his change of command ceremony (anyone ever seen the "adjutant's walk?") and later, had sage advice for me. He said "don't ever bring me a problem unless you also bring me a solution."
This blog would be nearly useless if I were to only bring problems to the public, and had no solutions to propose. My first "solution" involves fixing CRS 13-5-136 which appears to me to be conter-productive in its approach. It certainly didn't discourage my judge from failing to rule on a motion for more than two years, even after he had been reminded of the need to do so.
Because the Colorado Revised Statutes do not appear on the web in a way such that individual statues can be linked, I reproduce the statute below:
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13-5-136. Forfeit of salary.
Statute text
(1) If any judge of any district court, to whom any motion, issue, or other matter, arising in any cause, is submitted for judgment or decision, fails or neglects to decide or give judgment upon the same within the time limited by section 13-5-135, such judge shall not receive from the state treasury any salary for the quarter in which such failure occurred, when the following requirements are satisfied:
(a) The party aggrieved by the failure of such judge to rule in a timely manner files a complaint demanding the withholding of the salary of such judge with the commission on judicial discipline established in section 23 (3) of article VI of the state constitution;
(b) The commission on judicial discipline, in accordance with rule 4 of the Colorado rules of judicial discipline, investigates the judge's alleged violation of section 13-5-135;
(c) After such investigation the commission on judicial discipline, in accordance with rule 4 of the Colorado rules of judicial discipline, makes a recommendation concerning the allegation to the Colorado supreme court; and
(d) If deemed appropriate, the Colorado supreme court issues an order directing the department of the treasury to withhold the judge's salary.
(2) This section shall not apply in case of the sickness or death of a judge.
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Fortunately, it is a very short statute. The problem is in section 1(a), which I have underlined.
Since it is late, and I like short posts, I will provide my proposed fix in the next day or so. It is quite simple and self-enforcing. Best of all, it removes from a litigant's attorney any fear of reprisal by a judge who is punished by this law because it forces the offending judge to inform the litigant of the law.