Colorado

Cases

• Won before the Colorado Supreme Court in a fast-moving original jurisdiction case for the Colorado Independent Congressional Redistricting Commission. The decision sets critical precedent affirming the Commission's constitutional independence to draw boundaries for Colorado's eight congressional districts before the 2022 election. WTO prevailed for the Commission against Colorado's legislature, governor, attorney general, and secretary of state.
• Won summary judgment for an international shipping company in a putative joint employment class action in federal court in Colorado.
• Serving as lead trial counsel for a natural gas company in a certified antitrust class action alleging wholesale price manipulation and seeking more than $2 billion in damages.
• Led appellate strategy in post-trial motions in an oil and gas industry matter which resulted in settlement prior to appeal.
• Briefed the contested issue of what constitutes oil production in an oil and gas industry case before the Colorado Court of Appeals.
• Represented a temporary staffing agency in the appeal of the largest individual personal injury judgment in Colorado history.
• Represented a national market leader in cannabidiol-based wellness products in an emergency petition to the Colorado Supreme Court to reduce the scope of damages available at an impending breach-of-contract trial.
• Successfully represented a major North American resort owner and operator in multiple consumer class actions seeking refunds following the company's closure of its ski resorts during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Won a trial verdict as co-counsel for a large financial services provider in a $75 million dispute over the company's allegedly excessive fees.
• Won a remote trial in federal court in a pro bono case for a foreign national who brought claims involving violations of international kidnapping protections under the Hague Convention. The court ruled that WTO's client's child must be returned to her home country.
• Negotiated landmark settlement for a New Jersey bank in "true lender" litigation brought by the State of Colorado that threatened the viability of the multibillion-dollar fintech consumer lending industry.
• Won a $1.25 billion exit fee dispute for an electric distributor against its generation and transmission provider.
• Represented an airport fixed-based operator as amicus counsel in a Colorado Supreme Court appeal affecting tax liability for lessees on public land across the state.
• Won a groundbreaking state supreme court ruling disqualifying a client's former lawyers from participating in a lawsuit against the client. The published opinion is the first state supreme court decision that disqualifies lawyers from pursuing litigation against an insurance-company client they previously represented.
• Facilitated a rural electric cooperative's withdrawal from membership in a wholesale cooperative. WTO's client achieved settlement for hundreds of millions of dollars below the wholesaler's demand and can now acquire substantially cheaper and renewable green energy sources for its members.
• Won affirmance of WTO's trial victory for IBM Corp. in a $6.1 million municipal tax dispute.
• Won a trial for two estate creditors accused of colluding with an estate representative to defraud the primary beneficiary. The presiding judge entered judgment for WTO's clients, concluding that the plaintiff had failed to prove virtually every necessary element of her claims.
• Successfully represented multiple defendants in a $2 billion federal antitrust and labor class action challenging the au pair exchange program administered by the Department of State. After four years of litigation, and just two months before trial, WTO helped to negotiate settlement for the defense group, resulting in defendants paying only 3% of the demand.
• Won a defense verdict as co-counsel to defeat claims that WTO's oil and gas client owed $400 million to a stakeholder.
• Obtained a ruling from the Colorado Court of Appeals overturning the trial court on a complex supersedeas bonding issue that arose out of a successor liability and civil conspiracy case, resulting in an award of approximately $2.5 million in favor of several governmental entities.
• Won a defense verdict as co-counsel to defeat $800 million claims in a bet-the-company shareholder dispute involving an oil and gas client.
• Won a unanimous decision in Colorado's highest court preserving the state's longstanding regulatory approach for the oil and gas industry.
• Won a federal jury verdict in a trial for an insurer pursuing counterclaims against a homeowners association that filed an inflated insurance claim and sought more than $5 million in total damages. The Court entered judgment for the client for the full amount that had been paid in benefits, plus interest and costs.
• Won a defense verdict in federal court for a hospital and its staff against $27 million malpractice and negligence claims involving a subdural empyema.
• Won a defense verdict in a highly public, multi-week jury trial alleging a wrongful death claim against a recreation industry client following the tragic death of a minor. Successfully defended the appeal.
• Won a defense verdict for a national carrier in a bad faith jury trial in which the plaintiff claimed the insurer must pay for a special run of bricks in order to fully repair the plaintiff's home. A 12-member jury unanimously rejected the plaintiff's claims, agreeing that WTO's client had acted in good faith. WTO also won the Tenth Circuit appeal.
• Won a trial verdict for IBM as plaintiff in a $6.1 million tax dispute against the City of Golden involving sales and use taxes assessed over a seven-year span.
• Won an "extraordinary remedy" from the Colorado Supreme Court for an insurance company to reverse a trial-court order implying a waiver of the attorney-client privilege. The unanimous opinion establishes that the mere "fact that privileged information might become relevant in a given lawsuit could not alone be enough to establish an implied waiver."
• Represented seven codefendants in a property insurance class action lawsuit in Colorado. Plaintiffs claimed they were systematically underinsured in a "monumental" conspiracy, in violation of federal RICO and antitrust laws, and involving virtually all property insurers in Colorado as well as industry trade groups. WTO served as liaison counsel and argued the successful motion for the fee award of more than $1.5 million.
• Won a defense jury verdict in federal court for a Fortune 500 telecommunications client facing age discrimination and retaliation claims.
• Successfully preserved a landmark state law reforming tenure policies for public school teachers.
• Won a significant victory for Ford Motor Co. in the Colorado Supreme Court. The case reestablishes that the risk-benefit test is the appropriate test for juries to assess whether a product has been defectively designed. The Court also held that a manufacturer could not be negligent if it designed a "reasonably safe" product.
• Won a complete defense verdict in a professional liability claim against a law firm and lawyer. The plaintiff alleged that WTO's client was negligent, yet the jury found that not only was our client not negligent, but that the alleged negligence didn't cause the claimed damages.
• Won a complete defense ruling for a heavy metals supplier after a week-long bench trial involving a breach of contract claim in which the plaintiff sought $28 million.
• Won a defense verdict for a national carrier against a claim of negligent misrepresentation after a contentious appeal. After prevailing on eight claims on summary judgment, one claim was remanded for trial after an appeal. WTO's client won on the final claim after a six-day jury trial in Boulder County.
• Won a Rule 21 petition (an "extraordinary remedy") for Ford to the Colorado Supreme Court in a case involving general jurisdiction and venue claims. The opinion makes it harder for companies with no connection to Colorado to be sued in the state.
• Won an emergency, eve-of-trial appeal to the Colorado Supreme Court to preserve core legal claims in a consumer protection case with tens of millions of dollars in potential monetary awards.
• Won a jury verdict for Armstrong Steel against claims of false advertising and defamation in a two-week trial in federal court in Colorado. A competitor of Armstrong sought millions of dollars.
• Won a complete defense verdict for CollegeAmerica (aka The Center for Excellence in Higher Education) in a lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. WTO attorneys won dismissal of two claims relating to severance provisions in 2014. A federal jury decided for CollegeAmerica on the final claim of retaliation in 2016.
• Won Colorado Supreme Court reversal of a unanimous court of appeals ruling in a case of national importance to the insurance industry. In its ruling for Travelers, the Court held that the "notice-prejudice rule" does not apply to "no-voluntary-payment" provisions in insurance policies. This was WTO's fifth consecutive, fully-argued victory before the Colorado Supreme Court in two-and-a-half years. Law360 named Stresscon one of the top five insurance rulings of 2016.
• Won a victory in the Colorado Court of Appeals for Continental Resources in a dispute involving purported rights to a Colorado oil and gas lease.
• Won order vacating a $10.87 million property insurance award and disqualifying a national property appraiser, and subsequently won sanctions against the policyholder and its lawyers, and won 99.7% of attorneys' fees and costs.
• On remand from the U.S. Supreme Court, won a judgment upholding sales tax collection rules for e-commerce companies. That judgment set the stage for a Supreme Court decision that fundamentally reshaped e-commerce tax law across the country. Also authored a Supreme Court amicus brief cited in the majority's opinion.
• Won a unanimous opinion from the Colorado Supreme Court that strongly upholds Colorado's strict privity rule in determining whether non-client beneficiaries may sue an estate lawyer for malpractice or professional liability. In its opinion, the Court adopted the most stringent test, as WTO advocated, and affirmed that the plaintiffs lacked standing to sue our clients.
• Won a complete defense jury verdict in federal court for Evenflo in a $15 million failure-to-warn trial arising out of permanent injuries to a child involved in an accident while riding in an Evenflo infant seat.
• Won a unanimous, precedent-setting decision in the Colorado Supreme Court that required the nation's largest consumer litigation finance company to abide by state lending laws.
• Won a defense verdict for Pepsi Bottling Group in a six-day jury trial. The plaintiff claimed a traumatic brain injury as a result of being struck with falling merchandise from a retail display. WTO's client was one of two defendants in the litigation, and the jury assigned no fault to our client.
• Won a directed verdict in a trade secrets trial for an oil and gas company. The plaintiff claimed theft of its technical geological data that allegedly had allowed the defendant to improperly acquire several hundred thousand acres of oil and gas leases in northeastern Nevada. The plaintiff's expert opined that the misappropriation of the trade secrets had caused more than $1 billion dollars in damages.
• Won reversal of a 2013 jury verdict against Ford Motor Co. in a case that alleged strict liability and negligence relating to a rear-end collision in a 1998 Ford Explorer. The Court of Appeals concluded that the application of consumer expectation as a standalone test in Colorado's pattern jury instructions does not comply with Colorado law as established by the Colorado Supreme Court in Camacho v. Honda Motor Co. (1987).
• Won affirmance from the Colorado Court of Appeals in a defense verdict for WTO's labor and delivery nurse client. Plaintiffs had claimed $17 million in this obstetrical malpractice claim.
• Successfully tried to a jury an unfair gas pricing case for two locally owned gas station/convenience stores in federal court.
• Won an appeal argued before the Colorado Supreme Court challenging a trial court's order to submit Quality Management Privileged (QMP) materials relating to an incident at issue in a medical malpractice trial. The appellate decision is significant, as the QMP designation allows hospitals and healthcare providers to assess and innovate following critical incidents without concern that their discussions will be discovered.
• Won a complete defense jury verdict in a $12 million legal malpractice case. The jury found in favor of WTO's client on all claims and also awarded unpaid legal fees owed by plaintiffs.
• Won a complete defense jury verdict in federal court for a large international law firm accused of malpractice. The plaintiff hired WTO's client to handle a complex patent infringement matter, then sued the firm for negligence and breach of fiduciary duty.
• Won a complete defense verdict in federal court in Colorado for an emergency physician in a three-week medical malpractice trial in which the plaintiff alleged misdiagnosis leading to paralysis and asserted damage claims of $12 million.
• Won a complete defense verdict in a bad faith matter for Allstate before the United States District Court for the District of Colorado.
• Won a complete defense verdict for Allstate Insurance Company in an insurance bad faith case brought in the United States District Court for the District of Colorado.
• Won back-to-back Colorado Court of Appeals victories in June 2013 in legal malpractice cases involving claims of failure to disclose, negligent misrepresentation, fraudulent concealment, and breach of fiduciary duty.
• Obtained victory before the Colorado Court of Appeals for a bariatric surgeon. WTO lawyers tried and won the original case, which involved alleged complications following gastric bypass surgery. The Court of Appeals rejected the plaintiff's assertions that the lower court erred in precluding certain expert testimony and affirmed the 2011 trial court verdict.
• Defeated class certification for Nash Finch (now SpartanNash), a Fortune 500 food distribution company, in claims involving common law fraud, civil theft, and violations of the Colorado Consumer Protection Act stemming from complaints about a specific pricing program in various grocery stores. WTO then obtained summary judgment against the 55 named plaintiffs.
• Won a unanimous defense verdict for a labor and delivery nurse in a $17 million, three-and-a-half-week obstetrical malpractice trial in Colorado state court.
• Won a unanimous jury defense verdict in federal court in Colorado for Evenflo Company in a two-week trial involving liability for permanent injuries to a child strapped into an Evenflo car seat during an auto accident. Ultimately, the jury agreed with our argument that the seat saved the child's life rather than caused the child's injuries.
• Defended an appeal seeking to overturn district court prejudgment writs of attachment and motion dismissing counterclaims in fraud/civil theft case.
• Obtained a preliminary injunction following a full-day evidentiary hearing in a Colorado district court for a large Ohio-based commercial painting company in a case involving trade secrets and a noncompete agreement.
• Defended the appeal to the Tenth Circuit of a 2010 jury verdict WTO won for AT&T in a high-profile whistleblower case. Law Week Colorado called the underlying trial court victory one of the "Top Defense Verdicts of 2010."
• Defended the appeal to the Colorado Court of Appeals of a 2010 jury verdict that WTO won for Ford Motor Company in an electronic throttle product liability case.
• Defended a trucking company against negligence claims arising from a nine-vehicle accident on a snowy Nebraska interstate highway.
• Won a unanimous jury defense verdict in a three-week trial in Denver District Court for USAA. WTO lawyers defeated breach of contract and bad faith claims in connection with USAA's refusal to provide coverage for a roof on the plaintiffs' property. The jury returned a complete defense verdict in less than one hour.
• Won a bench verdict in state court in a legal malpractice matter. After the law firm brought a collection action against a former client, the former client countered with a multimillion-dollar damages demand, claiming breach of fiduciary duty. Following a one-week trial, the judge dismissed the former client's counterclaim and awarded WTO's client the full amount of fees owed plus interest.
• Won an arbitration award in favor of a law firm client. The arbitrator denied all legal malpractice claims against WTO's client and awarded it unpaid fees, plus interest, attorneys' fees, and costs.
• Won a jury defense verdict for a Colorado bariatric surgeon in Denver District Court.
• Won a $4.2 million judgment for a renewable energy client involving an executive's embezzlement from the company.
• Won a Colorado Supreme Court decision favorable to WTO's client, Allstate, and all Colorado auto insurers in a purported class action involving disclosures associated with underinsured and uninsured motorist policies.
• Obtained summary judgment in district court in a professional negligence claim against WTO's client, a construction consultant, in a matter related to criminal charges brought against the consultant's client, a utility company.
• Won a verdict in Boulder District Court of Colorado in favor of a food production company in a breach-of-contract action it brought against the sole shareholder and officer of an organic food production company.
• Helped secure a landmark victory from the Colorado Supreme Court as amicus counsel for the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists in a case involving the reliability of the intrauterine forces theory of labor as applied in shoulder dystocia matters.
• Won a unanimous jury defense verdict for a cardiothoracic surgeon in a two-week medical malpractice trial involving injuries associated with an atrial fibrillation surgery.
• Won a jury defense verdict for an orthopedic spine surgeon in a medical malpractice case with millions of dollars in damage claims at stake, including eight years of accruing pretrial interest.
• Co-managed with one other law firm the response to requests from 418 dealers for arbitration relating to the bankruptcy of Chrysler Group LLC and following Chrysler's termination of those dealerships. WTO litigated 187 of these Section 747 arbitrations, and, as directed by Congress, resolved all of the litigation within seven months--with a 96% success rate.
• Defended an appeal to the Colorado Court of Appeals that affirmed the trial court's finding that WTO's client, Encompass Insurance, was not liable for the claims brought against it in an insurance case. Subsequently defended the award of costs to WTO's client.
• Obtained a highly favorable non-class settlement in a putative, multistate class action involving Whirlpool-made wall ovens.
• Won affirmation of a trial court's summary judgment ruling and exposed "pollution for profit" in protracted CERCLA litigation for our engineering client before the Tenth Circuit.
• Defended a franchisor against fraud claims made by franchisees, who sought tens of millions of dollars in actual and punitive damages. After a five-week trial, WTO won judgment for our client. The court awarded $2 million in attorneys' fees against the franchisees.
• Won a Colorado Court of Appeals opinion upholding WTO's jury defense verdict in a medical malpractice trial involving shoulder dystocia.
• Successfully appealed to the Colorado Supreme Court a case WTO won at the trial court level, but which was reversed by the Colorado Court of Appeals. Following arguments, the Colorado Supreme Court's published opinion restored the complete victory for the insurer in this precedent-setting case of first impression and made it easier for commercial property insurers to understand and follow Colorado's statutory notice requirements.
• Won a jury defense verdict in Denver District Court for a prominent Denver heart surgeon.
• Won affirmance from the Colorado Court of Appeals for four doctors in a medical tort case involving wrongful death claims relating to medical treatment provided to the plaintiff's husband before his death.
• Obtained a temporary restraining order in Denver District Court against a retailer and its owner in a brand-protection case WTO handled for a well-known appliance manufacturing company.
• Won affirmance from the Tenth Circuit of summary judgment for an insurer in a case seeking unlimited no-fault benefits for alleged failure to offer no-fault benefits.
• Successfully tried to verdict a pro bono case in which our clients proved that Colorado's electronic voting systems had not been tested and certified in accordance with the law. The case led to major changes in Colorado election law.
• Successfully defended a large Colorado automobile dealer in a consumer class action in which the plaintiffs alleged violations of the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act and sought hundreds of millions of dollars in damages. The trial court denied class certification, and the Colorado Court of Appeals affirmed that order on appeal, and the Colorado and U.S. Supreme Courts denied certiorari.
• Won a jury defense verdict in U.S.D.C. for the District of Colorado for an automobile manufacturer in a wrongful death crashworthiness case.
• Managed litigation for a leading nationwide insurer in bad faith cases related to MedPay coverage in 12 states (Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin) and Washington, D.C.
• Won a motion to dismiss one of the nation's largest marijuana manufacturers facing labeling claims in the first class action brought against a marijuana grower in Colorado.