Logan Combined Court Closes Early April 3, Part of Broader District Pattern

Logan Combined Court at 110 N. Riverview Road in Sterling went dark at noon Friday, leaving anyone with afternoon filings, records requests, protection order paperwork, or clerk payments without in-person access for the remainder of the business day. The Colorado Judicial Branch posted the closure notice on its Logan County page with no reason given, stating only that the court would "close at noon and will remain closed for the remainder of the day."

That four-hour gap between noon and the court's regular 4 p.m. closing carries real stakes in a jurisdiction that processes roughly 10,000 cases annually. Anyone who had scheduled in-person business at Room 205 on Friday needed to either reschedule with the clerk's office or pivot to electronic alternatives. Missing a filing deadline in a civil or criminal matter can mean contempt findings or, in cases involving ongoing financial obligations, a warrant.

April 3 was not a one-off. On April 16, two weeks from now, the Colorado Judicial Branch has announced partial closures across the entire 13th Judicial District. Logan County Combined Court will close from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.; Logan County Probation will shutter from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.; Phillips County Probation will close from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.; and Sedgwick County Combined Court will close from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Neither notice has specified a reason, though the cluster of closures across multiple offices in the same month points to district-wide administrative or training activity.

The scale of the 13th Judicial District gives those closures added weight. Spanning Logan, Morgan, Phillips, Washington, Sedgwick, Yuma, and Kit Carson counties, the district covers approximately 11,432 square miles, roughly the size of Massachusetts. The District Attorney's Office describes it as "the single largest judicial jurisdiction in the United States," serving about 80,000 residents and processing approximately 3,100 district court cases and 6,900 county court cases each year.

For anyone who had business at 110 N. Riverview Road on Friday afternoon, several alternatives remain accessible. E-filing through the Colorado Judicial Branch's online portal handles most civil and criminal submissions without requiring a physical visit. The court's main phone line, 970-522-6565 (Option 7), is staffed during standard hours of 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. The Sterling Self Help Center, co-located at the same Riverview Road address, provides additional support for self-represented litigants, with resources also available through lawhelp.colorado.gov.

Weekday advisement and bond hearings remained scheduled at their standard 2:15 p.m. time Friday. The 13th Judicial District livestreams both weekday and weekend bond hearings, so families and attorneys tracking custody matters retained that window even with the clerk's office shuttered. The Logan County Sheriff's Office inmate search function provided a parallel resource for custody status.

Anyone who missed a filing window because of Friday's closure should call the clerk's office Monday morning and reference the posted closure notice as grounds for a continuance or deadline extension. Litigants with active payment obligations who could not process in person should confirm with the clerk that no late fees or default findings resulted from the gap.

Longer-term, the district is set to receive one new district court judge in July 2026, part of the Colorado General Assembly's 2025 legislation authorizing 15 new state court judges over two years. For a district managing close to 10,000 annual case filings across 11,432 square miles, the addition will matter well beyond any single afternoon closure.