By Jeffrey A. Roberts | Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition
A Pagosa Springs attorney who has filed nearly 100 open-government lawsuits in the past several years has standing to sue the Elizabeth school board for alleged open meetings law violations even though he lives 300 miles away, the Colorado Court of Appeals ruled Thursday.
Shutting down arguments made by the school district, the Colorado Association of School Boards and the Colorado Rural Schools Alliance, the state’s second-highest court concluded that the Colorado Open Meetings Law “creates a legally protected interest in favor of at least every natural person in Colorado — including the plaintiff here — in having public bodies conduct public business in compliance with the OML.”
The school district had accused Matt Roane of “taking advantage of small rural communities and school districts for alleged violations that have not impacted him at all.” But the district “points to no language in the OML — and we see none — that compels the conclusion that Roane has no legally protected interest in an open meeting in the district unless he also proves a connection with that district,” Judge Eric Kuhn wrote for a three-judge appellate panel.
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