Herb Fenster, attorney with McKenna Long & Aldridge’s Denver office, will file a lawsuit this month in federal court challenging the constitutionality of Colorado’s Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, or TABOR, The Denver Post reports. Fenster argues the U.S. Constitution guarantees representative democracy in the states, while TABOR is essentially a form of popular democracy. “If you want to vote on tax legislation, then send people to the legislature who are going to vote the way you want them to vote,” he told the Post. One of Fenster’s primary aims is to increase the state’s ability to fund education.
Colorado will get more than $1.2 million as part of a $24 million multi-state settlement with FORBA Holdings LLC, state Attorney General John Suthers said Thursday. The agreement resolves allegations that FORBA, a dental management company based in Nashville, billed states for medically unnecessary dental services performed on children covered by Medicaid, The Denver Business Journal reports.
John Maas, general counsel to Steamboat Ski & Resort Corp., has sent a cease-and-desist letter to political blog CapitolHillBlue.com for what it calls the illegal use of the term “champagne powder” in an article published in December.
View CapitolHillBlue.com’s article and a copy of the letter here.
And below is the company’s 2008 filing for the trademark, not yet completed, with the U.S. Patent and Trademark office.
Platt Park resident Vicki Dillard is demanding that the bank that controls her mortgage “show me the note” if it wants to foreclose on her home, The Denver Daily News reports. Dillard is joining a national movement in which homeowners are attempting to delay or block foreclosures by asking that banks produce the original mortgage note if they want to foreclose on a home.
La Plata County Clerk and Recorder Linda Daley has asked the U.S. District Court in Denver to dismiss a lawsuit by Commissioner Joelle Riddle aimed at getting her name on the ballot next year. State and federal courts have dismissed identical lawsuits in the past, Daley tells The Durango Herald.
The new Ski Train, which announced it would pick up where the old one left off after owner Phil Anschutz pulled the plug and sold the old train at the end of last season, is on hold for at least a week — and perhaps the entire season, Westword reports.
The Army is dismissing its appeal of a court ruling related to plans to step up training at Pinon Canyon, as reported by CBS 4 News.
The Army appealed a Sept. 8 federal court ruling by Judge Robert Matsch, that said it didn’t adequately assess the environmental effects of increasing training at the southeast Colorado site. It filed a motion to drop the appeal on Tuesday.
Last week, Sen. Michael Bennet advised Attorney General Eric Holder and Army Secretary John McHugh to back off, saying it sent a “hostile message” to ranchers, who have been busy fighting to stop the Army from expanding the training area.J ustice Department lawyers representing the Army refused to comment.
Bankruptcy cases filed in federal courts for fiscal year 2009 rose 34.5 percent, when compared to FY 2008 filings. Bankruptcy and other court units experiencing a rise in filings will receive just over $5 billion in appropriations under the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2010.
The Securities and Exchange Commission presented evidence Friday during a two-day hearing against alleged Ponzi schemers Wayde McKelvy and ex-wife Donna McKelvy that a federal judge said showed a “strong likelihood” of prevailing in a trial, as reported by the Denver Post. Early last week, U.S. District Court Judge Christine Arguello ordered an injunction against the McKelvys’ company Speed of Wealth LLC and Troy Wragg, Amanda Knorr and their company, Mantria Corp., ordering them to cease securities activities and freezing their assets. The injunction was a response to a Securities and Exchange commission complaint, accusing the two companies of taking more than $54 million in a Ponzi-like scheme. No trial date has been set.
