By: Michael Karlik | Colorado Politics
The Denver-based federal appeals court concluded last month that a former attorney cannot mask her identity while suing the Colorado Judicial Department for alleged improprieties in her disability and disbarment proceedings.
“Jane Roe,” representing herself, sued the Judicial Department and attorney regulators in 2024. She accused the defendants of discrimination, defamation, and violations of her constitutional rights in the proceedings that culminated in her disbarment.
Because Roe did not have an attorney, Colorado’s federal trial court routed her complaint through its screening process for self-represented litigants. U.S. Magistrate Judge Richard T. Gurley advised Roe that there need to be “exceptional” circumstances for plaintiffs to avoid using their real name in court.
“If Plaintiff wishes to proceed using a pseudonym, she must seek permission of the Court and demonstrate that she has an important privacy interest that should allow her to use this unusual procedure,” he wrote.
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