Civil Litigation

Colorado Supreme Court Raises the Bar by Thomas Werge

The Colorado Supreme Court recently decided the landmark case of Warne v. Hall, 2016 CO 50. In Warne, the Court changed the standard to evaluate motions to dismiss civil lawsuits. The Court identified the "growing need, and effort in our rules, to expedite the litigation process and avoid unnecessary expense, especially with respect to discovery." It then set aside the previous rule prohibiting dismissals unless a court could find "no set of facts" by which a plaintiff could prevail, instead adopting the "plausible on its face" standard to evaluate the sufficiency of a complaint.  Colorado state courts now follow the federal standard articulated in Bell Atlantic v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544 (2007) and Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662 (2009).

Thomas Werge submitted a brief to the Colorado Supreme Court on behalf of amicus in support of adopting the new standard.