Colorado Rule of Civil Procedure 106 gives you two ways to take a government body to district court: you can force an official to perform a duty the law requires, or you can ask a judge to review a quasi-judicial decision (like a zoning denial or license revocation) for abuse of discretion or lack of authority. The rule most people encounter is 106(a)(4), and using it well depends on a handful of strict requirements that trip up petitioners who move too slowly or plan too narrowly.
What Rule 106 Does
Rule 106 isn’t a single remedy. It brings together older forms of court orders into one procedural framework, and two of its provisions do almost all the work.
Rule 106(a)(2) applies when a government body or official refuses to perform a duty the law requires. If a county clerk won’t issue a license you’re legally entitled to, or a board won’t certify results it’s required to certify, this is the provision. The catch is that the duty must be non-discretionary. The law has to require the action, not merely permit the official to consider it.1Westlaw. Rule 106 Forms of Writs Abolished
Rule 106(a)(4) is the far more common tool. It lets a district court review a decision by a governmental body or officer “exercising quasi-judicial functions” when that body “exceeded its jurisdiction or abused its discretion.”2Colorado Judicial Branch. Rule Change 2020(26) Colorado Rules of Civil Procedure – Rule 106 Zoning board hearings, professional licensing decisions, and land-use permit reviews are the classic examples.
When You Can Use Rule 106(a)(4)
Four thresholds matter, and Colorado courts treat them as jurisdictional. Miss any one and your case can end before a judge looks at the merits.
The Decision Has to Be Quasi-Judicial
Not every government decision qualifies. A quasi-judicial decision has three markers: the affected party received adequate notice before the decision, a hearing was held, and the body reached its result by applying established legal criteria to the specific facts. Passing an ordinance is legislative and falls outside the rule. Setting a department’s budget is administrative and also falls outside. A zoning board denying a variance after a noticed hearing fits.
No Other Adequate Remedy
Rule 106(a)(4) applies only when “there is no plain, speedy and adequate remedy otherwise provided by law.”2Colorado Judicial Branch. Rule Change 2020(26) Colorado Rules of Civil Procedure – Rule 106 If a specific statute already gives you a way to appeal the decision, that statutory route generally takes priority. You can’t use Rule 106 to sidestep an appeal process the legislature already built.
Exhaust Administrative Remedies First
Before filing in district court, you have to exhaust every administrative remedy available. Colorado courts treat the failure to exhaust as a jurisdictional defect, not a technicality.3Justia. Colorado Revised Statutes Title 24 Article 4 Section 24-4-106 – Judicial Review If the agency offers an internal appeal or reconsideration, you have to use it. Going straight to court will almost certainly get your petition dismissed.
A narrow exception exists when the agency’s action clearly exceeds its constitutional or statutory authority and the proceeding itself would cause irreparable harm. Courts apply it reluctantly.3Justia. Colorado Revised Statutes Title 24 Article 4 Section 24-4-106 – Judicial Review
File Quickly After the Decision Becomes Final
Timing is unforgiving. Rule 106 actions must be filed promptly after the challenged decision becomes final, and the filing window is measured in weeks, not months. Courts do not extend the deadline for good intentions or ignorance. Because the specific deadline can turn on the type of decision and any applicable statute, pinning down your exact deadline is one of the first things to do.
Filing and What the Court Reviews
You start a Rule 106 action by filing a complaint in district court. The complaint identifies the body or officer whose decision you’re challenging, describes the decision and the proceeding that produced it, explains why the decision exceeded the body’s authority or was an abuse of discretion, and specifies what relief you’re asking for. That relief is usually reversal, remand for a new hearing, or both.
Discovery is limited. The court’s review centers on the administrative record, meaning the evidence, testimony, and documents that were before the governmental body when it made its decision. You generally cannot introduce new evidence in the district court. If a critical argument or document wasn’t presented to the zoning board or licensing panel, it’s typically too late to raise it in court, absent extraordinary circumstances involving procedural problems that kept it out of the record.
That reality makes the administrative hearing itself the most important stage of the entire process. Treating it as a warm-up and saving your best arguments for court is a strategy that fails consistently.
How Deferential Is the Standard
The court doesn’t hold a new trial or decide what it would have done in the body’s place. It asks whether the body exceeded its jurisdiction or abused its discretion.2Colorado Judicial Branch. Rule Change 2020(26) Colorado Rules of Civil Procedure – Rule 106 In practice, that means looking at whether the decision was arbitrary or capricious, supported by competent evidence, and reached through proper procedures. Under the state Administrative Procedure Act, courts have also reversed for denying a statutory right, violating constitutional protections, or lacking substantial evidence on the record as a whole.4Justia. Colorado Revised Statutes Title 24 Article 4 Section 24-4-106 – Judicial Review
Substantial evidence is a modest bar. It means enough relevant evidence that a reasonable person would accept as adequate to support the conclusion. Two reasonable people can look at the same record and reach opposite results, and the decision will still survive if the body’s finding is one of them. Petitioners win most often when they can point to a clear procedural failure (the body ignored its own rules, refused to allow testimony, or applied the wrong legal standard) rather than simply disagreeing with how the evidence was weighed.
Bring Every Claim You Have, Including Federal Ones
This is where Rule 106 petitioners lose money they didn’t have to lose. If a governmental decision violated your federal constitutional rights, you may have a claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for damages or injunctive relief. Colorado public policy requires you to join all of your claims in one Rule 106(a)(4) action, and the Colorado Supreme Court has expressly held that § 1983 claims are not exempt from claim preclusion. If you file a Rule 106 petition and could have included § 1983 claims but didn’t, those federal claims may be permanently barred in any future lawsuit.5United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. Franklin Gale v City and County of Denver
The practical rule: if you believe a decision violated both state procedural requirements and your federal constitutional rights, raise both in the Rule 106 action. Filing the Rule 106 petition first and planning to bring the federal claim later is a strategy Colorado courts have explicitly rejected. Early consultation with an attorney who handles both state administrative law and federal civil rights work matters here.
Costs and What a Win Actually Gets You
The filing fee for a Rule 106(a)(4) action in Colorado district court is $265.6Colorado Judicial Branch. List of Fees That’s the entry ticket. Attorney fees make up the bulk of what petitioners pay, and preparation of the administrative record, including hearing transcripts, adds real cost on top.
Even a favorable ruling rarely ends the fight. When a court reverses a governmental decision under Rule 106, it typically remands the case back to the body for a new proceeding done properly. The board or commission then holds a new hearing and can reach the same result, a different result, or something in between. A reversal is not an order telling the body what to decide. It’s an order telling the body to try again without the errors that tainted the first process. Petitioners expecting a judge to simply grant the permit or reinstate the license are usually disappointed. The realistic prize is a second, fair hearing.
What Rule 106 Does Not Cover
Rule 106 targets the decision-making process itself, not physical harm caused by government activity. If a city snowplow damages your car or you’re injured by a hazardous condition in a public building, those tort claims fall under the Colorado Governmental Immunity Act, which is a separate framework with its own notice requirements and waivers.7Justia. Colorado Code Title 24 Article 10 Section 24-10-106 – Immunity and Partial Waiver Rule 106 is the tool when a body’s decision is the injury. It isn’t the tool when the government’s conduct caused a physical or economic harm outside a decisional proceeding.