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::: 1st Quarter - 2005 :::
Cases
We've had some interesting cases this quarter. Recent victories are highlighted below. We are proud of our track record in court, but by giving these examples we do not mean to imply that we win every time. Jim Hubbell won a verdict for a former Arthur Andersen LLP professional who was sued by Citibank to collect on a note that was to have been used to fund her capital account at the firm. Citibank has brought hundreds of similar disputes against existing or potential Andersen partners around the country, generally against professionals who were voted into the Arthur Andersen partnership and signed promissory notes before the news of the firm's indictment for its role in the Enron scandal broke. To date, Jim's client is the only one to have prevailed. Jerremy Ramp, Norm Haglund and Steve Lass successfully defended against a Husband's efforts to reduce or eliminate his property division balancing payment obligation entered pursuant to the court's 2002 divorce orders. Husband claimed that his settlement of business litigation and alleged downturns in his business were extraordinary circumstances that authorized the court to eliminate or reduce the amount of property that Husband was ordered to pay to Wife as her portion of the marital estate. Wife's attorneys succeeded in getting Husband's claim denied by a magistrate, and this decision was affirmed by the district court judge Ed Kahn is co-counsel in Hawthorne-Bey v. Reinertson, a Denver District Court case challenging the denial or reduction of benefits to Medicaid, Food Stamp, Old Age Pension and Colorado Works recipients by the State Departments of Human Services and Health Care Policy and Finance. On August 30, 2004, the Court entered a preliminary injunction prohibiting the departments from requiring applicants to swear to false information on their applications (the system established "work-arounds", which required incorrect information to be entered to make the system work). On December 21, 2004, the Court entered a preliminary injunction requiring the departments to establish immediately an emergency processing unit to handle the applications of persons where processing had been delayed, or benefits had been suspended, reduced or terminated. The court found that between 25,000 and 30,000 applications had been unlawfully delayed beyond legal time limits. The court also ordered the departments to fix the system of giving notice of action by February 28, and required the backlog of out of compliance cases to be cut by 40% by February 28, and another 40% by April 30. A copy of the order can be seen here. David Fine and Martha Tierney filed a lawsuit in Denver District Court on behalf of a group of plaintiffs, led by the Colorado Community Health Network, who are challenging the constitutionality of legislation passed to undermine Amendment 35, a constitutional amendment overwhelmingly passed by Colorado voters, which raises taxes on tobacco products and uses the revenues for expansion of health care services for medically underserved populations. Jerremy Ramp and KHGK have been representing pro bono the mother of a young child for several years in a custody and child support action. A temporary child support order was secured in 2003 and a permanent child support order was secured in 2004. The child's father has refused to pay anything on the orders. He claimed to be self-employed for most of the case, and then later claimed injuries that rendered him unable to work. To date, KHGK and Mr. Ramp have brought three contempt actions and made dozens of court appearances on behalf of the mother, during which time four different attorneys were appointed by the court for the father. In December, 2004, Judge William D. Robbins, Jr. of the Denver District Court found the father in contempt of court and ordered him jailed for sixty days, commencing immediately.
At the Podium
Terry Kelly, with help from Kim Ainsworth, Dana Bassett, and the professionals from CLE-CBA organized the 2004 Annual Advanced Family Law Institute on behalf of the Colorado Chapter of the American Association of Matrimonial Lawyers. The seminar was held at Denver's Doubletree Hotel, with approximately 150 attending. Twenty-five lawyers and three judges made presentations, as well as principals from Access Information, an internet legal investigation business. Steve Lass gave a presentation at the symposium on the topic "It Ain't Over 'til It's Over: Post-Decree Matters." David Fine and Martha Tierney recently completed the Constitutional Law section for CLE of Colorado's Annual Survey of the Law for 2004, which will be published later this year. This is the fifth year in which David and Martha have written this section. Around the Firm
Norm Haglund was listed in the 2005-2006 edition of the Best Lawyers in America in the area of business litigation. Norm joins Terry Kelly, Steve Lass, Jim Hubbell, Woody Garnsey, Freddie Alvarez and Ed Kahn as members of the firm listed in the 2005-2006 edition. Further information can be found at www.bestlawyers.com. Steve Lass and Terry Kelly were named as two of "Denver's Top Divorce Attorneys" in the inaugural issue of a new magazine titled "Divorce in Denver." In the Community
David Fine and Martha Tierney were among a core group of lawyers who worked in the Democratic Party's "boiler room" on election day of the 2004 election, seeking to ensure that voting in Colorado complied with federal and state law. Jim Hubbell was a recipient of the 2004 Community Spirit Award from the Colorado Homeless Coalition for his work on behalf of the homeless community. Norm Haglund and the other lawyers who worked on the Lobato v. Taylor case received a community service award at the Colorado Hispanic Bar Association's 2005 Annual Dinner. Lobato v. Taylor involves thousands of Hispanic ranchers seeking to restore their right to use La Sierra, an historic 80,000 acre tract of mountain land in southern Colorado. KHGK was sponsor of August fund raising event for El Centro Humanitario Para Los Trabajadores. El Centro is a is an immigrant day laborer organization in Denver that consists of immigrant day laborers and community advocates united to defend the human rights of Denver's immigrant day laborers. |
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