Bills in the legislature can promise just about anything.  (And so can the legislators who sponsor them.)  Delivering on those promises, however, is another story.

House Bill 1057 is one such bill. Promising “additional protections for purchasers of homeowner’s insurance,” the bill strips away a consumer’s choice to insure your home for a specific dollar value and instead requires that all homeowners policies provide coverage at full replacement value.

While it may be prudent to insure at full replacement value, it’s also more costly than if you currently have your $250,000 home insured for $200,000.  Prudent or not, that decision is a personal one best left to an individual or family – not dictated by state lawmakers.

That’s why CO-LAW and Colorado Civil Justice League are OPPOSED to HB 1057.

Click HERE to read CCJL’s Tracking the Legislature.

Recently, the Colorado Supreme Court handed Wal-Mart a costly defeat in the highly-publicized case of a truck driver whom a jury awarded $15 million due to injuries she incurred from slipping on a grease spill while making a delivery to a Wal-Mart store in Greeley.

The high court reversed the decision of the trial judge, who granted Wal-Mart a new trial, ruling that the driver’s attorneys failed to disclose a key document that unfairly prejudiced the jury.

In a 4-2 decision (with a seventh justice recusing herself), the majority ruled that plaintiffs’ attorneys were not required to disclose the document – a report from the City of Greeley – because it was a “public document . . . equally available to all parties.”

Beneath the radar, however, Justice Monica Marquez — whose nomination to the court received a positive recommendation from CCJL’s Legal Advisory Board — authored a concurring opinion that demonstrated a keen eye for subtle distinctions in the letter of the law. Read more

DENVER — A bipartisan group of legislators were recently honored by Colorado Civil Justice League with its annual “Common Sense in the Courtroom” Awards.

Award-winning legislators were formally recognized at CCJL’s Annual Awards Luncheon, which featured keynote speaker Walter Olson, editor of the popular website Overlawyered.com.

“CCJL awards legislators who take a stand against abusive lawsuits,” said Jeff Weist, legislative director of CCJL.

This year’s winners: Read more

Appeals Court rejected plaintiff’s claim for $138,000 when damages totaled just $77,500

If ever a case demonstrated the audacity of personal injury lawyers and their clients, the Colorado Supreme Court will soon consider such a case in Levy v. American Family. Read more

Our congratulations to Wheeler Trigg & O’Donnell’s Evan Stephenson for his mention in Law Week Colorado’s “2011 Up-and-Coming Lawyers.”

Evan is an active participant in CCJL’s Legal Advisory Board (LAB) and, last spring, authored an insightful op-ed in The Denver Post, exposing the proposed Senate Bill 107 (2011) as a ruse to enrich plaintiffs attorneys, soak Colorado employers and drive up insurance costs while having very little impact on drunk drivers. Read more

One of America’s most tireless advocates for common sense in the courtroom, Walter K. Olson, editor of Overlawyered.com, will keynote the annual Colorado Civil Justice League Awards Luncheon on Dec. 13.

Olson is also author of Schools for Misrule: Legal Academia and an Overlawyered America, Rule of Lawyers: How the New Litigation Elite Threatens America’s Rule of Law, and Litigaton Explosion: What Happened When America Unleashed the Lawsuit.

The annual event also recognizes Colorado state senators and representatives who have cast courageous votes in defense of consumer choice and economic growth.  Each award-winning legislator will receive CCJL’s Common Sense in the Courtroom Award.

Reservations are required for the luncheon at the Westin Tabor Center, 1672 Lawrence in Denver.  Check-in begins at 11:30 a.m. with the luncheon beginning promptly at 12 noon.

Click here for details and to RSVP!

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