16 Sep Is Mandatory Rule 16.1 Litigation Right for You?

In its last two blogs Edwards Law discussed Rule 16.1— major changes to expect and how to prepare for the changes.  In this last blog, we provide some guidance on the types of cases that would be appropriate for Rule 16.1 and when you might want to consider pursuing 16.1 litigation.

Goal of Rule 16.1

In general, most civil cases worth between $7,501 and $100,000 that are brought in state court must follow the mandatory expedited litigation procedures of C.R.C.P. 16.1.  The idea behind Colorado Rule of Civil Procedure 16.1 or Rule 16.1 is to provide a simpler process for small cases worth less than $100,000.  This is accomplished by extremely limiting discovery and setting trial early on in the case.  These types of litigation restrictions in conjunction with an expedited trial setting make this new mandatory process effective in only certain types of cases.

What Types of Cases Are Conducive to the New Mandatory Requirements of Rule 16.1?

In practice, the mandatory procedures of Rule 16.1 will only be helpful in simple cases that do not require a lot of discovery into the facts.  In other words, if you can prove your case without having to ask your opponent questions, and without relying on your opponent to provide certain documents or information, then the new procedures under 16.1 will work well for you because the procedures move the litigation process along quickly and save you money on attorney fees and discovery costs.

For example, if you are trying to collect a debt on a credit card or revolving credit account against one individual or one company, and there is no dispute as to the amount owed, the new mandatory procedures can help you to collect on your debt more quickly and with less expense.

Another example is if you have a straightforward contract case.  If you are trying to collect on a promissory note for a motor vehicle or a house against one or two individuals or a company, the expedited procedures will work well for you in quickly pushing your case along to save on attorney’s fees and to allow a quicker recovery on any fixed or liquidated damages due to you under the contract.

If your case does not fit into one of these categories, the expedited procedures of Rule 16.1 could still be helpful if the law makes it very clear that you are owed money from one party, and the statute allows you to collect treble damages (i.e., triple the amount owed), as well as attorneys’ fees.  For example, under Colorado’s landlord-tenant laws, if your landlord withholds your security deposit for over 60 days and fails to provide you with a breakdown of why he/she/the company is withholding the money, the law allows you to sue your landlord for three times the amount owed, and allows you to recoup your attorneys’ fees from your landlord.  So long as your case is worth more than $7,500 (the small claims court cap), this type of case would be well-suited for the new mandatory expedited procedures of 16.1.

Will the Process Really be Faster, Now that Most Cases Will Now Need to Follow the New Expedited Procedures of 16.1?

It remains to be seen whether the goal of the new mandatory Rule 16.1 procedures will in practice result in faster trials.  Studies that were conducted under the optional Rule 16.1 procedures tended to show that courts were not giving priority to Rule 16.1 cases in setting hearings and trials.  This might have been because the rule was optional and most cases did not remain in 16.1.  Also, it was not clear in the optional 16.1 regime whether judges were affirmatively suggesting that parties consider Rule 16.1 during case management conferences or pretrial conferences, as these studies showed that none of the Rule 16.1 cases were resolved by a jury trial, and the percentage of 16.1 cases being resolved by bench trial were not any higher than non-16.1 cases being resolved by bench trial.

If you and/or your company are owed a sum certain over $7,500 pursuant to a written contract, you should consider filing a lawsuit in district state court under the new mandatory requirements of Rule 16.1.  Contact Edwards Law today for help in determining whether it makes sense under the expedited procedures and if so, how to do it.  The first call is free.