Colorado (USA) District Court Case: Colorado River Ecosystem v. State of Colorado

Summary

In 2017, a lawsuit was filed against the State of Colorado in order for the Colorado River to be declared a legal person. This first-in-the-nation lawsuit requested that the court recognize the river’s rights to exist, flourish, regenerate, and naturally evolve, and grant the river “personhood” and standing to sue in American courts. Deep Green Resistance filed the lawsuit as next of friends to the Colorado River alleging that climate change and the droughts that accompany it threaten the river’s existence.

The motion says that “The undersigned continues to believe that the doctrine provides American courts with a pragmatic and workable tool for addressing environmental degradation and the current issues facing the Colorado River…That said, the expansion of rights is a difficult and legally complex matter. When engaged in an effort of first impression, the undersigned has a heightened ethical duty to continuously ensure that conditions are appropriate for our judicial institution to best consider the merits of a new canon.”

On December 4, 2017, the federal district court for the District of Colorado granted a motion by plaintiff “Colorado River Ecoystem” to dismiss with prejudice the lawsuit seeking recognition of the Colorado River Ecosystem’s status as a “person” possessing rights and a declaration that actions of the State of Colorado violated those rights. The plaintiff’s motion to dismiss stated that the complaint “represented a good faith attempt to introduce the Rights of Nature doctrine to our jurisprudence” and that counsel for the plaintiff “continues to believe that the doctrine provides American courts with a pragmatic and workable tool for addressing environmental degradation and the current issues facing the Colorado River.”