Last year, Wheeler Trigg O’Donnell partner Fred Yarger led a legal team for the Denver International Airport to victory on decades of noise complaints following a long string of defeats, after presenting arguments to the court in late 2023.
“The key in those situations is to have a great working relationship with the existing legal team,” Yarger told Law Week via email. “For this case, we collaborated closely with our co-counsel at Kaplan Kirsch and the legal team from the City of Denver, who had been living the case for years. Beyond that, it’s all about meticulously reading every scrap of paper available to gain a deep understanding of the issues and present the most compelling arguments possible.”
Yarger wasn’t daunted by decades of case history. He said it allowed him to focus on fresh perspectives and presenting the best arguments he could on key legal questions, given a closed record.
“It’s like solving a challenging puzzle with all the complex pieces laid out on the table, which I find fun and rewarding,” Yarger explained.
“The victory effectively ended a long and grueling battle with a 30-year history, during which the airport had lost tens of millions of dollars through court losses and settlements,” Wheeler Trigg O’Donnell president and partner Katie Reilly told Law Week in Yarger’s nomination for Top Litigators.
Reilly explained that the state Supreme Court dismissed with prejudice a contract suit filed by a group of local governments. They claimed the airport breached a 1988 agreement over airport noise management.
“As Yarger argued through briefs and in oral argument, the lower courts had incorrectly applied Colorado’s statute of limitations for breach of contract actions in a manner that split with other jurisdictions and incentivized plaintiffs to unfairly delay claims while allowing their potential damages to grow exponentially,” Reilly said. “The Supreme Court unanimously agreed with Yarger’s arguments, ending the dispute and creating favorable precedent for future commercial cases.”
In the case, Adams County sued the city of Denver over the use of a modeling system at the airport instead of the noise monitoring system originally agreed upon. In January 2024, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that the breach of contract claim from Adams County filed in 2018 was barred by the statute of limitations.
Colorado Supreme Court Justice Carlos Samour Jr. wrote in the opinion that the two state jurisdictions found themselves in “merry-go-round” litigation.
Aside from resolving a split with other jurisdictions, Reilly asserted the ruling kept Colorado commercial law consistent with other states. She noted that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said the case could have impacted hundreds of thousands of contracts and that if it had ruled the opposite way, the precedent may have created a perpetual risk of decades-old claims being resurrected by counterparties.
But Yarger’s 2024 courtroom successes weren’t few and far between.
He also worked on a nine-figure dispute for DISH Wireless. The case was over a master lease disagreement with Crown Castle USA, a large cell tower company.
The case was important locally because DISH was tasked with building out a nationwide 5G network, but Crown Castle had a formidable team of opposing counsel, according to Reilly. At risk for DISH was hundreds of millions of dollars in additional rent at 20,000 cell tower sites, nearly twice the amount they were already paying at each.
After eight days of trial, the jury returned a unanimous verdict for DISH. Reilly noted that 2nd Judicial District Judge Sarah Wallace told the jury, “You were witness to really amazing lawyering in this case, some of the best lawyering that I personally have seen.” Reilly told Law Week that Yarger conducted voir dire, examined six witnesses and argued all motions at trial.
He’s currently serving as lead counsel to defend the trial result on appeal.
“The Wheeler Trigg team in that case was fantastic and extremely collaborative,” Yarger said of the trial experience. “Their support turned the intensity of a complex, high-stakes jury trial into an experience that was both fun and extraordinarily rewarding. While commercial cases can seem dry, there’s often a fascinating story beneath the legal claims, and I loved being part of it.”
Not one to be a one-trick pony, Yarger also maintains a robust pro bono practice. Reilly noted he also often supervises junior attorneys at the firm in appellate matters.
Reilly told Law Week that Yarger represented a county jail inmate in an excessive force claim, securing a significant monetary settlement and a change in the jail’s practices.
“I try to assist with pro bono cases whenever I can and serve on my firm’s pro bono committee,” Yarger said. He noted the firm is expanding the pro bono area of its practice and he typically supervises appellate cases.
“One of the best parts is seeing junior lawyers become the stars,” Yarger said. “For example, in the excessive force case, an associate handled all the pretrial litigation and discovery work that led to the settlement and was the voice of the client to the magistrate judge who mediated the case.”
Yarger clarified that in his appellate cases, associates always present oral arguments. “It’s great to see them have that opportunity, especially when the outcome is so meaningful to someone who really needs legal help,” he explained.
Yarger also noted he sometimes represents parents in difficult family law disputes pro bono, which he said he finds particularly rewarding.
“Yarger’s excellence in the courtroom comes from a sense of ease in handling complex, challenging and high-profile cases,” Reilly said. “He’s the embodiment of ‘been there, done that.’”
Reilly told Law Week that when Yarger was appointed Solicitor General of Colorado, he was the youngest in state history to hold the position at 32.
“Serving as Solicitor General was an amazing experience, and I feel blessed for the opportunity,” Yarger said. “Every day was something new — reviewing possible new legislation, meeting with the U.S. Department of Justice in D.C., advising Colorado elected officials, and even arguing a few cases at the Supreme Court.”
He said a memorable experience from that era was taking the governor’s plane to the Silverton area to tour, with the Environmental Protection Agency, a mine site that was discharging water into an interstate river.
“It was incredible to see firsthand a small part of the legacy of the uncountable number of inactive mines that exist all over the mountain west and now have to be managed,” Yarger told Law Week. “New Mexico attempted to sue Colorado based on that event, but we were able to convince the U.S. government to back us in the lawsuit and persuaded the U.S. Supreme Court to dismiss the case.”
His best advice for young litigators is to stick with it, even through significant challenges or tough losses.
“Being a lawyer becomes more and more rewarding the longer you do it,” Yarger said. “Celebrate the victories while you can but try to remember that you’ll learn some of your best lessons from the toughest losses.”