Author: Jim Flynn

A basic attribute of our country’s legal system is that legislatures make laws and courts interpret and apply laws. Every so often, however, a court will interpret and apply a law in a manner contrary to the wishes of the legislature. What happens then is the legislature changes the law, thereby overruling the court. Thus,…

Last week I told you about one of the issues that often shows up in will contest cases — the need for the maker of a will to be of “sound mind.” This basically means a person making a will must, at least to a limited extent, know what he or she is doing. Also,…

It’s now the season of snow and ice, and people slipping on that snow and ice and hurting themselves. So, let’s say it snows and you don’t shovel your driveway for a few days, and the delivery person bringing you packages slips on your driveway, falls and suffers a significant orthopedic injury (think broken hip).…

Thanks to a 2006 Colorado Supreme Court decision, clients unhappy with their lawyer have a tool in addition to a claim of malpractice (professional negligence) by which to express their displeasure— a lawsuit for false advertising under the Colorado Consumer Protection Act (CCPA). The beauty of the CCPA (at least from a plaintiff’s point of…

After several years of controversial court decisions, the 2019 Colorado General Assembly passed an anti-SLAPP law. SLAPP stands for “strategic lawsuits against public participation.” These are lawsuits that arise out of, and in one way or another challenge, speech arguably protected by the First Amendment. The Legislature, in passing the anti-SLAPP law, said the purpose…

Estate planning can be challenging for anyone at any time. However, estate planning for people in a second marriage can present issues not found in a first marriage. That’s in large part because a second marriage will often bring children (and pets) from a prior marriage into a blended family and this can lead to…

Although check fraud has been around as long as there have been checks, a recent article in the New York Times began by stating “check fraud is growing rapidly.” The article went on to say one reason for this is that checks are being stolen, physically or digitally, and sold over the internet. Once a…

The availability of property insurance is, of course, critical to a functioning economy. Without property insurance, there would be no loans for home, commercial property or vehicle purchases, and the housing, commercial real estate and automotive industries would tank, putting the rest of the economy in a death spiral. As you might expect, the increase…

Mark Twain said: “Buy land. They’re not making it anymore.” However, the use of land is regularly evolving, and one of the many legal tools that causes this to happen is zoning. So what is zoning? It is a set of rules, most often established by a local government entity in the form of an…

It has long been my belief that civil litigation has replaced horse racing as the sport of kings, and may be more expensive. A case decided in October by the Colorado Court of Appeals added further evidence in support of my belief. The lawsuit at issue here involved a parking space in an open-air parking…