On the bedrock principle that a movant for summary judgment must come forward with evidence—not bare argument—the Court of Appeals' decision below quietly inverts C.R.C.P. 56, splits in pure diametric conflict with Amada, conflicts with Wallman, Morlan, Central Bank, and Suncor, and forges procedural forfeitures that no Colorado authority requires. The result is a judicially sanctioned playbook for sandbagging that will be deployed against every pro se litigant and resource‑starved party in the State.
The petition will be filed on Thursday, May 28, 2026. Under C.A.R. 53(g), an amicus curiae may file a brief "only by leave of court or at the court's request," and it "must be filed within 7 days after the filing of the petition, opposition, or cross-petition that the amicus brief supports." The motion for leave (with the proposed brief attached) must therefore be filed after the petition's filing, but within 7 days of it — the countdown above runs to the close of that 7-day window.
Cold to the case? Here's where to spend the time you actually have.
One page.
Five questions, three operative facts, four panel errors, two statewide stakes, and the ask. Built to be read in under a minute.
After the one‑pager, the five issues verbatim from the Petition — each with controlling‑authority quotes, panel‑error citations, and case‑link cross‑references.
Read the Issues → 30 minutesAll 25 pages, 3,800 words. The complete Petition for Writ of Certiorari, exactly as filed with the Colorado Supreme Court.
This case is not a one‑off. The procedural distortions below were applied to a 12-minute false detention captured on body camera. The legal questions are independent from those facts—but the facts are why the questions reached this Court.
Summary judgment is the most frequently filed dispositive motion in Colorado civil courts. The Court of Appeals has quietly rewritten how it works: a movant may file an evidence‑free opening brief, observe the response, and produce its actual evidence only in reply—labeling that evidence "rebuttal" while arguing forfeiture to any later objection. If left uncorrected, these rules will alter how every Colorado MSJ is litigated.
The decision splits in pure diametric conflict with Amada, and conflicts with Wallman, Morlan, Central Bank, and Suncor—five decisions the Colorado Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals have repeatedly applied for decades.
Mr. Montgomery was detained for twelve minutes by store employees who never identified what he supposedly possessed, who claimed to have called police that no record shows were ever called, and whose own affidavit and receipt—both introduced for the first time in reply—contradict each other on whether he was inside the store at all.
The Panel resolved every contradiction in Best Buy's favor while dismissing sworn testimony and body camera footage as merely "self‑serving speculation." That is not summary judgment—that is trial by appellate brief.
Defendant's two pieces of reply‑only evidence contradict each other—and both contradict Plaintiff's own body camera footage. The Court of Appeals never addressed this.
If the manager observed Plaintiff steal and "immediately leave," there was no time for a purchase. If Plaintiff made a purchase and "immediately left," the theft observation is impossible. Both cannot be true—yet the Court of Appeals concurrently adopted both.
The Record documents, in granular detail, why every fact element of the prior Walmart cases is structurally absent from this Best Buy case, and gathers — with deep links into the live consolidated briefing PDFs — every passage in which Plaintiff has directly refuted the “lawsuit scammer” framing on the record. From the Record Itself →
One page. The format appellate clerks and amicus committees actually screen on. Five questions, three operative facts, four panel errors, two statewide stakes, and the ask — built to be printed, attached, and read in under a minute.
To be filed on May 28, 2026. 25 pages, 3,800 words.The pure procedural‑law brief that frames the questions presented and the C.A.R. 49 grounds for review.
Open PDF →
Must be filed by June 4, 2026. 20 pages, 3,122 words.Ready to sign as drafted, modify to your interests, or replace entirely. Editable .odt source provided on the Amicus page.
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Issued Feb. 19, 2026. Modified March 26, 2026.The decision below, by Judge Yun (Grove and Schock, JJ., concurring), not published pursuant to C.A.R. 35(e). Petition for Rehearing denied March 26.
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All briefs, responses, replies, exhibits, affidavits, and the Order granting Defendant's MSJ—in a single 13 MB compendium for review.
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Mr. Montgomery is a pro se petitioner, not an institutional movant. Whatever resources you can bring to bear—a name on the brief, a voice in the legal community, an institutional banner—materially advances the question whether a Colorado court of last resort permits the procedural ambush below.