It appears Colorado is the only state where there is no right for an appeal to be reviewed by a panel of three judges. If you file a lawsuit for under $15K you have to do it in a County Court. Then you can proceed with an appeal to the District Court where a single judge will review it. You can proceed by petitioning to the Supreme Court by writ of certiorari, however this is not an appeal as of right. In other words, according to 13-6-310 of Colorado Revised Statutes you have a right for one appeal only, and this appeal is decided by a single judge. You have no right for a three-judge appeal that exists in most (or perhaps all) other states. If you know about similar situation to Colorado - please post it here.
If the County Court rules one way, and the District Court disagrees, this is essentially an even split between two opinions (one judge vs. another judge). So why one opinion should outweigh the other? The County Court judge presided over the trial and is much more familiar with the evidence and the testimonies, so it should have more weight. On the other hand the District Court is higher, so its judge automatically gets authority to overrule. Finally, it is highly unlikely one judge would want a conflict with another judge, so the District Court judge would always do his best to cover up mistakes of the County Court judge, even if it is a plain abuse of discretion. If a judge knows his opinion can only be overruled by the Supreme Court who highly unlikely would even take the case, whose interest he would put first - interest of justice, or interest of another-judge-like-him ?
However, when the appeal is decided by three judges, they already know it's their opinion vs. one-judge opinion. Three judges would never be able to abuse their discretion all at once. I read that there is a federal law that prohibits appeals to be decided by a single judge in federal courts. Does anybody know this law?
If the County Court rules one way, and the District Court disagrees, this is essentially an even split between two opinions (one judge vs. another judge). So why one opinion should outweigh the other? The County Court judge presided over the trial and is much more familiar with the evidence and the testimonies, so it should have more weight. On the other hand the District Court is higher, so its judge automatically gets authority to overrule. Finally, it is highly unlikely one judge would want a conflict with another judge, so the District Court judge would always do his best to cover up mistakes of the County Court judge, even if it is a plain abuse of discretion. If a judge knows his opinion can only be overruled by the Supreme Court who highly unlikely would even take the case, whose interest he would put first - interest of justice, or interest of another-judge-like-him ?
However, when the appeal is decided by three judges, they already know it's their opinion vs. one-judge opinion. Three judges would never be able to abuse their discretion all at once. I read that there is a federal law that prohibits appeals to be decided by a single judge in federal courts. Does anybody know this law?
