The Colorado Supreme Court took the extraordinary step on Monday, December 16 to retract its two-month-old decision recognizing tenants have the right to a jury trial in eviction disputes. When Naomi Bermudez’s landlord moved to evict her this year from her apartment in Clare Gardens managed by Mercy Housing Management Group Inc., she asked for a jury trial. She wanted to challenge the reasons her landlord cited in its eviction notice.
Denver County Court Judge Shamsid-Deen heard oral arguments in the bench trial. He ruled there is no constitutional right to a jury trial in evictiono cases and denied the request. Bermudez and her attorney appealed directly to the Supreme Court, citing two Court of Appeals cases that recognized tenants’ right to a jury trial on factual disputes. In October, the Supreme Court ruled that tenants disputing their evictions are entitled to have a jury trial.
They based their decision on two sections of Colorado’s eviction law:
- Tenants personally served with a notice of eviction have the option of a jury trial.
- Tenants served otherwise, such as a posted notice on their door, do not.
The Supreme Court mistakenly decided the case, believing that Bermudez was personally served. The justices chose not to reevaluate their opinion in light of a factual error, instead punting the issue to the legislature. If they had read Bermudez’s petition more closely, they would have discovered she received notice by posting on her door and in the mail.
Egg On The Face
Bermudez’s attorney argued that the Supreme Court should read both sections together, granting the right to a jury trial no matter the circumstances of how tenants are informed of their eviction. The defendant and her legal counsel asked the Court to ignore the letter of the law. Mercy Housing Management Group Inc. agreed that the Court made a mistake but disagreed that the outcome should be the same and started the appeal process.
Wanting to avoid the whole matter, the Supreme Court ditched the question entirely, believing the law “does not make clear” whether a person in Bermudez’s circumstances has the right to a jury trial. In other words, they decided to fudge the whole issue, so now county courts will likely resume trying eviction cases to a judge, not a jury. The Supreme Court also considered eviction cases by jury would probably overwhelm the county court system. Justice Carlos A. Samour stated, “The legislature’s residence is across the street from ours,” and parties should raise this issue with lawmakers.
According to the Denver Gazette, The Colorado Poverty Law Project stated it is “disheartened and disappointed by the Colorado Supreme Court’s ruling.” They added, “It creates judicial confusion based on an arbitrary and meaningless distinction.” Property management companies and rental property owners could not have said it better. The Justices finally read the pleadings and the law more carefully, avoiding another embarrassing reversal, like taking Trump off the ballot.
State Representative Steven Woodrow, who litigates on behalf of tenants, says he will bring up the eviction cases heard by juries in the next legislative session. He is a self-described “legislator-litigator,” which means he introduces and supports bills that can line his pockets. At least Representative Woodrow is honest about it.
The Affordable Housing Deception
The Democrat party in Colorado talks about affordable housing all the time, but their legislative efforts over the two decades have increased housing costs in the state. Anyone with a fundamental understanding of economics knows landlords will eventually pass all operational costs to the consumer. Most people, regardless of socioeconomic status, pay their rent on time. The lefties in the State House seem to be obsessed with sticking it to the landlord and with keeping non-paying tenants in the rentals no matter the cost. A small percentage of tenants will abuse the system and stay in their units without paying rent for months, using litigation with the help of the slew of poverty lawyers like Steven Woodrow at their beckoning call. Property management companies and rental property investors will spread the non-payment and legal costs to their paying tenants.
The Colorado government creates the sandbox in which businesses operate. They inadvertently stopped the construction of condominiums across the state by passing the Construction Defect Reform Act passed in 2001. Condos are typically the first home for first-time buyers, but not in Colorado. Builders decided to build single-family homes and apartments instead because of the exponential increase in builders’ insurance associated with condo development. Excluding condos from the housing mix puts first-time buyers a double whammy. The average cost for single-family homes in Denver is over $600,000, out of reach for more than half the market. High rents make if difficult for potential home buyers to build up enough equity for a down payment.
In 2024, The Homeownership Opportunity Alliance and several Democratic legislators pushed the SB24-106: Right to Remedy Construction Defects Act to reduce the frequency of lawsuits targeting newly constructed condos. SB-106 adds a right-to-repair path to resolve faulty construction issues outside the costly litigation process. The bill successfully passed through the Colorado Senate with overwhelming bipartisan support and was supported by 38 mayors in the seven-county metro region. Colorado Senate Bill 106 was postponed indefinitely on May 3, 2024, to the delight of construction defect attorneys and their legislator backers.
Ho Ho Ho
The legislators and poverty lawyers can go to holiday parties this season saying how they stuck it to the man. The most challenging decision their sidekick construction defect attorneys make each year is what color Mercedes they will buy or lease. Together, their actions or lack of action make Colorado one of the country’s most expensive places to live. To cover their tracks, they make property owners and builders the villains.
DenCO believes its job is to keep its owners informed about local and state rental regulations and to keep all properties compliant under its control. DenCO manages over 175 rentals in the DU, Washington Park, and other neighborhoods in the Denver area and has been in business since 1999. Call us at 303-722-9688 or click here to complete a Contact Us form.
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