Colorado Trial Courts Can’t Review Misconduct Probe Decisions

Colorado trial courts can’t review decisions by the state attorney disciplinary office about whether to investigate alleged misconduct, the state’s high court ruled.

State district courts don’t have subject-matter jurisdiction over disciplinary proceedings because they are “not strictly civil or criminal cases,” the Colorado Supreme Court said in a Monday ruling.

The case arose after the state’s Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel declined to pursue attorney Paul Chessin’s allegation that his adversary in a lawsuit had committed professional misconduct by filing “perjurious affidavits.”

Dissatisfied, Chessin filed a complaint in a Denver district court contending the office abused its discretion. Chessin ...