A small business owner was helping her disabled brother with his new home when she slipped on ice and broke her ankle. The builder and developer knew about the problem, but had refused multiple requests to fix it and instead blamed the disabled brother. Jason’s client’s business suffered and it pained her to be away. Jason didn’t let the developer bully his client and took them to trial. In the face of a hostile judge and obstreperous opposing counsel, Jason’s client prevailed in front of a jury of her peers who laid 100% of the blame on the developer and compensated Jason’s client nearly $2 million.
A Summit County HOA was facing financial ruin due to timeshare owners not paying their dues. Partnering with real estate transactional counsel Michael Connelly who structured a creative buyout solution, Jason helped the HOA successfully navigate very difficult litigation waters, always keeping his eye on the ultimate goal: consolidating the timeshares into whole units and selling the units. After years of headwinds, the HOA finally achieved its goal, shored up their finances, and sold all timeshare units.
Laurie loved working as a local health inspector in Weld County where she made sure the food in restaurants was safe for the community. When she was volunteering at a flu clinic, she fell and broke her arm. The injury never healed right but she kept working, though she was slower than she used to be. Weld County simply refused to help her and rejected every accommodation she suggested. Instead, the County told her to “go out on disability” or resign. Jason took the case to trial for violation of the American’s With Disabilities Act for failure to accommodate and discrimination. The judge, in the face of clear law to the contrary, made Laurie prove she suffered an “adverse employment action” such as being fired, but since she had been forced to resign, the jury found in the County’s favor. Undeterred, Jason appealed the case. The first panel of three judges affirmed, but one judge dissented. Seeing an opening, Jason asked the entire Tenth Circuit to review the case – an en banc review. The Tenth Circuit reversed, setting the law for every state in the Circuit that when a disabled person needs accommodations, asks for them, and doesn’t get them, that establishes discrimination and a violation of the ADA.
In the wake of the 2016 election, Jason decided that complaining on the internet wasn’t enough, so he worked with some of Colorado’s members of the Electoral College to answer a centuries’ old question: can Electors vote their conscience, or can the state force them to vote for whoever won the popular vote in their state? Facing criticism from the media, the judge (who called the case a “political stunt”), and half the country, Jason took up the cause. Though the federal appellate court said it was unlikely Colorado’s Secretary of State would remove an Elector since such power did not exist in the Constitution, on the day of the election, the Secretary of State did so anyway. The case wound its way through the courts where others joined the team to shepherd the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. While the Court disagreed and concluded Electors cannot exercise free will, the question was answered, clearing the way for other efforts to reform the Electoral College.
Terry was T-boned by a driver, which messed up his back quite badly to the point where he contemplated suicide from the pain and immobility. The driver was sorry, but her insurance company was not and refused to fairly compensate Terry. Jason pushed the insurer. The insurer’s stubbornness put its own customer in financial jeopardy. Finally, the insurer relented, but ended up having to pay more than three times the insurance policy.
A devastating flood ruined a local bar owner’s business in Evergreen. When he asked his insurance company for help and to honor their promise to cover him under their flood insurance policy, they refused, blaming him for having a business near the water and claiming he had committed insurance fraud. After years of fighting with British insurance agents, Jason got documents that revealed it was the insurer that was acting fraudulently by saying they didn’t insure business near water when, in fact, they insured hundreds of homes and businesses near water all over Colorado. The insurer was forced to pay nearly three times the total insurance policy and the business got rebuilt and opened again.
