Lawsuit says Douglas County commissioners violated open meetings law

Three Douglas County residents have accused the Board of County Commissioners for Douglas County, Colorado, of violating the state’s open meetings law in a lawsuit filed in Douglas County District Court under case number 2025CV30410. The plaintiffs are Robert C. Marshall, Lora Thomas and Julie Gooden.

The case centers on the basic public rule that county business is supposed to be done openly, with residents able to see and follow how elected officials make policy. In Douglas County, where development, land use, infrastructure and public spending often draw intense attention, the allegation is that commissioners did not comply with the transparency requirements that are meant to keep decisions from being made behind closed doors.

Court records show Douglas County District Court issued an order in the case on May 20, 2025, tied to the plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction. The plaintiffs also filed a motion for entry of injunction pending appeal, seeking court action while the dispute moved forward. That kind of request can matter because it can affect whether contested county actions stay in place while the legal fight continues.

The dispute then moved to the Colorado Court of Appeals under case number 2025CA940. In a June 2025 order, the appeals court denied a motion to stay and left the record due July 23, 2025. A later order denied rehearing and stayed issuance of the mandate until May 29, 2026, extending the legal battle over how the county handled the underlying meetings.

Douglas County has also put the dispute on its own public website, including a page titled Colorado Open Meetings Lawsuit and a legal update titled Colorado Court of Appeals reverses decision in open meetings case. That public posting underscores how the case has become part of the county’s broader transparency fight, not just a courtroom matter.

For residents, the practical stakes are whether county commissioners followed the law on public decision-making and whether any actions tied to the challenged meetings could be attacked later. In a fast-growing county such as Douglas, where Castle Rock and surrounding communities routinely track zoning, budgets and tax decisions closely, a finding that meetings were mishandled could reverberate far beyond this one lawsuit.