The Supreme Court of the State of Colorado 2 East 14th Avenue • Denver, Colorado 80203 2022 CO 13 Supreme Court Case No. 21SC6 Certiorari to the Colorado Court of Appeals Court of Appeals Case No. 19CA546 Petitioner: Saul Cisneros, v. Respondent: Bill Elder, in his official capacity as Sheriff of El Paso County, Colorado. Judgment Reversed en banc March 21, 2022 Attorneys for Petitioner: Holland & Hart LLP Stephen G. Masciocchi Denver, Colorado American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Colorado Mark Silverstein Arielle Herzberg Denver, Colorado Attorneys for Respondent: Office of the County Attorney of El Paso County, Colorado Mary Margaret Ritchie, Assistant County Attorney Colorado Springs, Colorado JUSTICE GABRIEL delivered the Opinion of the Court, in which CHIEF JUSTICE BOATRIGHT, JUSTICE MÁRQUEZ, JUSTICE HOOD, JUSTICE HART, JUSTICE SAMOUR, and JUSTICE BERKENKOTTER joined. 2 JUSTICE GABRIEL delivered the Opinion of the Court. ¶1 We granted certiorari to consider whether the division below erred in concluding that section 24-10-106(1.5)(b), C.R.S. (2021), of the Colorado Governmental Immunity Act (“CGIA”) does not waive sovereign immunity for intentional torts that result from the operation of a jail for claimants who are incarcerated but not convicted. ¶2 We now conclude that section 24-10-106(1.5)(b) waives immunity for such intentional torts. In reaching this determination, we conclude that the statutory language waiving immunity for “claimants who are incarcerated but not yet convicted” and who “can show injury due to negligence” sets a floor, not a ceiling. To hold otherwise would mean that a pre-conviction claimant could recover for injuries resulting from the negligent operation of a jail but not for injuries resulting from the intentionally tortious operation of the same jail, an absurd result that we cannot countenance. ¶3 Accordingly, we reverse the judgment of the division below and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. I. Facts and Procedural History ¶4 In November 2017, Saul Cisneros was charged with two misdemeanor offenses and jailed in the El Paso County Criminal Justice Center (the “jail”). The court set Cisneros’s bond at $2,000, and Cisneros’s daughter posted that bond four 3 days later, but the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office did not release Cisneros. Instead, pursuant to Sheriff Bill Elder’s policies and practices, the Sheriff’s Office notified U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) that the jail had been asked to release Cisneros on bond. ICE then sent the jail a detainer and administrative warrant, requesting that the jail continue to detain Cisneros because ICE suspected that he was removable from the United States. ¶5 Pursuant to Sheriff Elder’s policies and practices, the Sheriff’s Office complied with ICE’s request, placed Cisneros on an indefinite “ICE hold,” and continued to detain him. The jail subsequently advised Cisneros’s daughter that the Sheriff’s Office would not release her father due to the ICE hold, and she ultimately recovered the bond money that she had posted. ¶6 During his detention, Cisneros, along with another pretrial detainee, initiated a class action in state court against Sheriff Elder, in his official capacity, for …
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Source: All recent Immigration Decisions In All the U.S. Courts of Appeals