tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14162253.post7228867938148170139..comments2024-03-28T18:57:15.124-06:00Comments on Wash Park Prophet: Two Little Suggestions For Colorado's CourtsAndrew Oh-Willekehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02537151821869153861noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14162253.post-65833869128359741632010-08-29T21:34:48.598-06:002010-08-29T21:34:48.598-06:00Putting procedural rules that don't apply to d...Putting procedural rules that don't apply to domestic relations actions (e.g. non-domestic relations filing deadlines, class action rules, counterclaim provisions, simplified civil action procedures, derviative action rules, unincorporated association rules, water court provisions, contested election rules, and court forms for inapplicable kinds of cases like automobile accidents), would enhance, rather than impair, the right of parties to represent themselves.Andrew Oh-Willekehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02537151821869153861noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14162253.post-877690650624846312009-02-17T22:12:00.000-07:002009-02-17T22:12:00.000-07:00The administrative changes you propose would, in m...The administrative changes you propose would, in my mind, only codify the substantive law that is already [mis]applied in domestic relations cases.<BR/><BR/>Whereas some lawyers (<I>e.g.,</I> Rob't Goodbinder) are on record as saying they find "matrimonial law repugnant," and one of my former law professors called it "the bastard stepchild of law," divorce law (or family dissolution law, as I refer to it) is the bread and butter for many lawyers. Another of my law professors casually referred to procedural due process as inconveniences that are often dispensed with in DR, D&N and probate cases. And she was right.<BR/><BR/>Indeed, huge swaths of not only the Rules of Civil Procedure but also substantive and procedural due process protections do not apply in domestic relations cases and the state's role of <I>parens patriae</I> is the convenient pretext.<BR/><BR/>In my experience and in reviewing scores of cases in minutia, the following substantive and procedural due process rights are either non-existent or optional in domestic relations cases in our "innovative" Colorado courts: First Amendment freedoms and protections; the right to confront an accuser; the right to timely notice that is reasonably intended to reach the person over whom a court will exercise jurisdiction; the right to meaningful and effective access to the courts; the right to be heard at a meaningful time and in a meaningful manner; the right to an impartial and fair trier of fact, who determines a case based on the merits and not on extrinsic circumstances; the right of access to ordinary, established adjudicatory procedures (such as discovery); the right to proceed <I>pro se</I> if one's convictions or financial circumstances require it; and the right to post (if not pre)-deprivation procedural due process.<BR/><BR/>Of course, I realize that my statements here are conclusory, but there's really not sufficient space to expound on any one of them.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com