Editor’s Note: Law Week Colorado edits court opinion summaries for style and, when necessary, length.
In re Mercy Housing Management Group, Inc. v. Naomi Bermudez
The Colorado Supreme Court held that there is a right to a jury trial on any factual disputes in forcible entry and detainer actions. The tenant in this FED case timely requested a jury trial and paid the required jury fee, and the parties’ lease doesn’t contain a jury waiver. Because the county court denied the tenant’s request for a jury trial on the parties’ factual disputes, the Supreme Court made the order to show cause absolute. On remand, the county court must hold a jury trial on any factual issues.
In an opinion written by Colorado Supreme Court Justice Carlos Samour Jr., the court noted there’s no constitutional right in the state to a trial by jury in civil cases. Samour wrote the right instead is found either in a state statute or a court rule. In this case, Samour explained, the legislature approved a statutory right to a jury trial, where a jury must decide all issues of fact in Colorado Rule of Civil Procedure 338(a).
Mercy Housing, Naomi Bermudez’s landlord, asserted Rule 338(a) doesn’t apply to FED-possession actions. It also asserted even if the rule did apply in this case, it would clash with the FED statute and must give way to it.
The state Supreme Court found that instead of clashing with the FED statute, Rule 338(a) works hand in hand with it, conferring a right to a jury trial regarding factual disputes in FED-possession cases.
“To borrow from Forrest Gump, the statute and the rule go together like peas and carrots,” wrote Samour. “While we fully acknowledge concerns that a jury-trial right might overwhelm our county courts, we ultimately conclude that the limited nature of this right will not prove unworkable.”