Editor’s Note: Copies of EEOC lawsuits filed in Colorado and Nebraska are published below.

JBS USA, headquartered in Greeley, is being sued by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for allowing a hostile work environment to be created for its Somali and Muslim employees due to their race, nationality and religion at meatpacking plants in Greeley and Grand Island, Neb., according to the Northern Colorado Business Report.

Two lawsuits were filed Aug. 31 in U.S. District Court in Denver concerning alleged harassment of employees during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan in September 2008. The lawsuits also allege that a pattern of discrimination continued in the two plants since that time.

The lawsuits claim supervisors and co-workers at the two JBS plants “threw blood, meat and bones at the Muslim employees and called them offensive names.” The suits also allege workers wrote derogatory comments about Somalis and Muslims on the walls of plant restrooms.

Swift Complaint – Colorado

Swift Complaint – Nebraska

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A teleconference company is off the hook, at least for now, from paying the legal fees of a former chief executive who was sent to prison in June for securities fraud, The National Law Journal reports.

The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Monday that a trial judge erred in granting a preliminary injunction in favor of ClearOne Inc.’s former CEO, Frances Flood, who had an agreement with the Salt Lake City-based company to pay her legal fees.

The appeals panel found that the agreement did not create an unconditional obligation for ClearOne to cover her fees and instead permitted the company to assert its own financial problems as a way to avoid payment.

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LAW WEEK COLORADO

DENVER – Colorado Attorney General candidates John Suthers and Stan Garnett will debate for a third time on Sept. 7 as part of the “Colorado Decides” debate series, a joint production of Colorado Public Television and CBS 4.

“This next one should really help set the table for the remainder of the campaign,” Garnett said in a press release.

The event, moderated by Denver political consultant Eric Sondermann and CBS 4′s Terry Jessup will take place at 1 p.m. and is scheduled to last 30 minutes. Air times on Channel 12 are 9:30 p.m. on Sept. 10 and 12:30 p.m. on Sept. 13.

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By Andrew S. Evans, LAW WEEK COLORADO

DENVER — Anti-tax activist and former state legislator Douglas Bruce appeared in court today along his attorney David Lane of Killmer Lane & Newman LLP to answer a contempt of court charge. The heated proceedings saw the attorney general office’s John Lizza claiming that Bruce’s lawyers were attempting to stall the proceedings while Lane, seemingly supported by Judge Brian Whitney, claimed that the anti-tax proponent had done all that was asked of him.

Whitney, however, declined to dismiss the case. He immediately proceeded to a hearing where the government will attempt to prove that Bruce knowingly refused to appear at a deposition and produce documents.

The hearing, scheduled to last three days, would conclude after the Labor Day holiday.

Bruce was served a contempt of court citation on June 23 after lawyers failed to serve a subpoena 29 times and could face jail time. He failed to produce documents regarding Amendments 60, 61, and 101 that would slash $1.2 billion from the budget in their current form and attend a hearing to testify about the identity of the mysterious “Mr. X” that would eventually connect him to the man behind the letter.

“In my opinion, I was never served,” Bruce said during a break in the hearing. “Twenty-nine times zero is still zero.”

The state pushed for a quick resolution to the issue. A hearing was originally scheduled for July 26 but was pushed back twice at the request of Bruce’s lawyers.

“Remedial sanctions are running out of time to be meaningful,” Lizza stated. “Voters won’t be able to make an informed decision if this information comes to light after the election.”

Bruce’s attorneys declared that the state’s case was moot seeing as Bruce was never sent an actual subpoena rescheduling his court date to May 10, but a letter from Isaacson Rosenbaum’s Mark Grueskin, who is the attorney for the opponents of the initiatives. Lane asked that the case be dismissed over this technicality.

“Mark Grueskin can schedule anything he wants including his own birthday party. He didn’t serve my client with a summons,” Lane stated. “The court can short-circuit these proceedings by asking the state to show the return of service.”

The actual motion for finding of proper service claimed that Bruce was personally served with a subpoena and that he “ignored his obligation to produce documents.”

The state submitted a lengthy witness list that includes Bruce, who may not testify, and Grueskin.

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LAW WEEK COLORADO

DENVER — The Colorado Court of Appeals released 13 published opinions on Thursday.

07CA2324 People v. James Wylie

08CA2071 People v. Spencer Klinton Smith

09CA0083 People v. Charlotte Carmen Bowerman

09CA0162 Yale A. Fisher v. Community Banks of Colorado, Inc.

09CA0690 In re the Marriage of Leslie Fanelli Kanefsky and Barry Kanefsky

09CA1071 Estate of Albert F. Grimm, deceased v. John M. Evans

09CA1081 Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation v. Atlantic Richfield

09CA1622 Todd Vecellio v. The Regents of the University of Colorado, et al.

09CA1690 Steward Software Company, LLC v. Richard Kopcho

09CA1997 Morris-Schindler, LLC v. City and County of Denver

09CA2059 & 09CA2552 Braata, Inc. v. Oneida Cold Storage Company

09CA2184 AC Excavating, Inc. v. Donald A. Yale

10CA0079 People v. Gregg Alan Maclaren

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State Board of Education members spent 3½ hours Wednesday hearing about the complex maze that must be managed before parents and community members can be told about the arrests of licensed teachers in Colorado and the existing loopholes that could allow some arrests and convictions of licensed educators to go unnoticed altogether, The Fort Collins Coloradoan reports.

“What I’ve learned is a little bit shocking,” said Bruce Caughey, deputy executive director of the Colorado Association of School Executives. “We have a very complex, many-layered system that would never have been designed the way it played out in real life.”

The state board called the special study session after the Coloradoan discovered this summer that education officials were largely ignoring a 2008 law requiring them to alert school districts and charter schools whenever licensed educators were arrested.

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A battle between Arapahoe County and state election officials over who should pay for some election expenses is scheduled to land in a Denver district court this week when the Colorado Secretary of State’s office files suit against county clerk officials, The Aurora Sentinel reports.

According to Secretary of State Bernie Buescher, the suit stems from disagreements between state and county officials in regards to HBO9-1186. Specifically, the legislation passed in 2009 requires counties to offer drop-off mail ballot facilities at all polling locations. County officials say the requirement costs a lot of money, and they shouldn’t have to pay for it.

Arapahoe County is alone in its challenge to the law. No other counties in Colorado have indicated that they won’t offer the added ballot drop-off sites.

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LAW WEEK COLORADO

DENVER — Gov. Bill Ritter appointed four state trial judges on Wednesday.

Thomas Lynch will replace retiring Larimer County Judge Cynthia Hartman effective Nov. 30. Mark Thompson will replace Terry Ruckriegle as a district judge in the 5th Judicial District, Norma Sierra will replace Carolyn Hoye Enichen as a Boulder County judge, and Mark Randall will replace Charles Hoppin as a Jefferson County judge, all effective Jan. 11.

Judge Appointments

· Mark Marrow Randall of Arvada will replace retiring Jefferson County Court Judge Charles T. Hoppin effective Jan. 11. Randall is currently a chief deputy district attorney for the 1st Judicial District, which serves Gilpin and Jefferson counties. He also is the legislative director for the Colorado District Attorney’s Council. Randall earned his bachelor’s degree from Creighton University in Nebraska in 1985 and his law degree from the University of Denver in 1988.

· Lynch is currently a deputy district in the 8th Judicial District, which serves Larimer and Jackson counties. Prior to that, he was an executive with Snowfly Inc., district director for former Congressman Bob Schaffer, president of JurisDATA Inc. and corporate services executive for Aspen Tree Software. He earned his bachelor’s degree in 1988 and his law degree in 1991 from the University of Wyoming.

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Terry Fox

LAW WEEK COLORADO

Gov. Bill Ritter announced on Wednesday he has appointed Assistant U.S. Attorney Maria Teresa “Terry” Fox of Wheat Ridge to the Colorado Court of Appeals to replace Judge Sean Connelly, who is stepping down to help his old firm, Reilly Pozner, open an office in Washington, D.C.

Fox has worked in the civil division of the U.S. Attorney’s office in Colorado since 2004. Before that, she worked in the Colorado Attorney General’s office and was an associate with Holland & Hart. Fox earned her juris doctor in 1993 from South Texas University, and got a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering and petroleum refining from the Colorado School of Mines in 1989.

The current annual salary for Court of Appeals judges is $134,128.

Fox serves on the Colorado School of Mines Board of Trustees, the Colorado Supreme Court’s Attorney Regulation Committee and is a member of the Colorado Hispanic Bar Association, which in 2006 honored her with its Chris Miranda Outstanding Lawyer Award and in 1997 with its Outstanding Young Lawyer Award. Fox is a member and former board member of the Colorado Women’s Bar Association.

Beside Fox, the finalists for the judgeship were Blain Myhre, partner at Isaacson Rosenbaum, and Patrick O’Rourke, general counsel for the University of Colorado.

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LAW WEEK COLORADO

DENVER – The Denver office of national employment law firm Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoak & Stewart announced the addition of four immigration attorneys from regional law firm Holland & Hart on Wednesday.

Angelica Ochoa and Christopher Thomas joined the law firm as shareholders. Ochoa has a broad employment law practice with a specialization in obtaining non-immigrant work visas and employment-based immigrant visas for management, professionals and specialized skills employees. She is a 2001 graduate from the University of Michigan Law School. Thomas focuses his practice on employment immigration law. He also serves on the boards of the Latin American Research and Service Agency and the Denver chapter of religious conviction organization J. Reuben Clark Law Society. Thomas received his juris doctor from Tulane University in 1997.

John Combs, who joined as of counsel, has a number of years of experience in employment based permanent residency applications with a specialization in the initial labor certification process. He learned his law degree from the University of Idaho in 1983.

Jocelyn Campanaro, who worked in Holland & Hart’s Washington D.C. and Denver offices, is an associate with a practice focused on complex commercial litigation and labor and employment disputes. She’s also specialized in representing professional sports teams and athletes on immigration matters, including players in the National Hockey League, a leading team in the Central Hockey League, World Champion cutting horse riders and competitors in the equine industry.

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