Litigation

THE END OF CAPP AND THE RISE OF NEW RULES OF CIVIL PROCEDURE IN COLORADO The Colorado Supreme Court will end the CAPP rules for new cases effective June 30, 2015 and establish new civil procedure rules effective July 1, 2015. The Colorado Supreme Court is on the march to set new rules of civil […]

In 2012 the Colorado Supreme Court made effective the Civil Access Pilot Project in six counties: Jefferson, Gilpin, Denver, Adams, Arapahoe and Douglas.  The alteration to the Colorado Rules of Civil Procedure is monumental.  No sensible lawyer will practice in those counties on business actions including those based on contracts, most torts,derivative actions, product liability […]

Litigation, often thought to be driven by financial gain, is frequently driven by vengeance. Litigation and its precursor claim presentation are frequently driven by emotion such as vengeance not reason not even financial gain. Even in the most seemingly pedestrian disputes between companies the underlying motivation for the claim or the defense is personal satisfaction […]

JUDGE ERROR MAKES PREDICTION OF CASE OUTCOME DIFFICULT Judge error makes predicting outcome of case difficult if not impossible. The usual reasons given are the uncertainty of the evidence available, the believability of the witnesses, the obscurity of the law applicable, the quality of representation, the unknown biases of the fact finder and so on. […]

Copyright claims jurisdiction in Colorado state courts – Long v. Cordain In a recent decision the Colorado Court of Appeals decided that a complaint containing copyright related claims was not preempted by the federal Copyright Act and that Colorado State Courts had jurisdiction over such claims. “Long’s complaint advanced four state-law causes of action: breach […]

Colorado Trade Secrets Owners May Use Non-Compete Agreements to Protect Trade Secrets in conjunction with the Colorado Uniform Trade Secrets Act to prevent employees from misappropriating trade secrets. Colorado has enacted two statutes which can be read together to enable an employer to protect its trade secrets. Colorado has a very strong policy favoring the […]

Exploring Trademarks for the General Reader A trademark is a name, sign or symbol used in association with goods or services to indicate to a potential purchaser the source of the goods or service We all are familiar with trademarks even if we are not conscious of them and how they work. The most common […]

website article – January 2, 2015 COLORADO PAROLE EVIDENCE RULE The parole evidence rule is a rule of contract law not a rule of evidence. The premise of the rule is the written terms of a contract should not able to be varied by extrinsic evidence including oral (parole) statements made before or during the […]

The Federal Court system is open to a party with issues under Federal law.  The Federal Courts are the only forum in the United States to hear patent and copyright cases.  Trademark cases may be brought to the Federal Courts. The general comments above on State Courts is applicable to the Federal Courts with the […]

A party turning to the Colorado State Courts to obtain “justice” or redress of his or her rights embarks on an expensive journey through a minefield of rules and other law opposed by an aggressive party equally determined to assert its own case.  In such an environment, frustration, distortion and relatively great expense should be […]