JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. — The state's Court of Appeals has sided with Colorado's counties and multiple sheriffs in finding Jefferson County Sheriff Jeff Shrader cannot be sued for the suicide death of a jail detainee.
Unlike other wrongful death lawsuits and claims against government officials, which have a two-year filing window, state law carves out an exception for sheriffs. "All actions against sheriffs" need to be filed within one year, reads a provision known as Section 103.
Consequently, a three-judge panel for the Court of Appeals ruled Shrader could not be held liable for the August 2017 suicide of Susanne Burgaz in the Jeffco jail because the claims against him were originally filed in May 2019, just under two years later. In doing so, the panel rejected the plaintiffs' argument that they were not suing Shrader personally as the sheriff, but rather as a stand-in for the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office itself.
"(T)he fact remains that plaintiffs named Shrader, not the JCSO, in their complaint," wrote Judge Neeti Vasant Pawar in the Dec. 15 opinion. "And section 103 plainly applies to all claims against sheriffs, even those based on misconduct by the entities they oversee."
> Read the full story at Colorado Politics.
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