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Colorado woman has gun stolen by laws.

MarkS

New member
Joined
Aug 19, 2014
Messages
27
Location
Colorado
She needs to get a lawyer or she will be bullied and red taped into giving up.

Sue them. Right. Good luck with that.

In Colorado, like many states, government agencies enjoy tort immunity AND free, unlimited legal resources in the form of a DA or city/county attorney that will fight a citizen lawsuit using taxpayer money. So, what that means in the real world is that you get to pay for your lawyer, and your taxes pay for the government's lawyer, and even if you win, the agency is likely immune from civil liability. The agency has absolutely no economic incentive to settle out of court.

Just to file a complaint in Colorado for a case involving less $15,000 is around $100 in county court, $225 in District Court, plus whatever fees are involved in service of process, plus whatever you might pay a lawyer.

If you win, the agency will probably appeal because: (1) it costs them nothing to do so since they are spending taxpayer money and (2) they will not want the press of a loss or what they believe would be bad precedent. Now pay your lawyer for an appeal.

To add insult to injury, your civil suit will be heard by a judge who sees the police and the DA every day, which realistically means that s/he is biased against civil suits naming local law enforcement as a defendant.

Depending on what you might sue them for, you can also be liable for the government's attorneys' fees if you lose. For example, if you sue your local Sheriff for denying your CHP and appeal that denial, if you lose in court 18-12-207(3) provides that "Following completion of the review, the court may award attorney fees to the prevailing party." So if you roll the dice and go to court to prove you're right and lose in front of the judge who has lunch with the DA every day, your downside risk is the expense of your lawyer plus the expenses incurred by the city defending against your lawsuit.

While it is wrong on so many levels, it would be way cheaper to buy a new gun and work to vote the Mayor/County Commissioner/Sheriff out of office.
 

DaveT319

Regular Member
Joined
Feb 1, 2014
Messages
274
Location
Eugene, OR
You make some good points. Even if you ultimately win, it'll just be cheaper to write it off and buy a new one. And if you lose, it'll DEFINITLY be more costly. Sucks the deck is stacked against us being able to get justice against OUR government.
 
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OC for ME

Regular Member
Joined
Jan 6, 2010
Messages
12,452
Location
White Oak Plantation
If it is confiscated, regardless of duration, I will abandon it. If I am disarmed, the handgun never leave my sight, and the handgun is returned to me. As long as the cop did not record the serial number and other details I will retain it.
 

MarkS

New member
Joined
Aug 19, 2014
Messages
27
Location
Colorado
You make some good points. Even if you ultimately win, it'll just be cheaper to write it off and buy a new one. And if you lose, it'll DEFINITLY be more costly. Sucks the deck is stacked against us being able to get justice against OUR government.

The simplest solution may be to file an claim under one's homeowner's insurance (the gun has been taken, here is who has it) and let your insurance company's subrogation department fight with local government officials.
 

SteveInCO

Regular Member
Joined
May 3, 2013
Messages
297
Location
El Paso County, Colorado
If it is confiscated, regardless of duration, I will abandon it. If I am disarmed, the handgun never leave my sight, and the handgun is returned to me. As long as the cop did not record the serial number and other details I will retain it.

Cops often run a check to ensure that the gun isn't listed as stolen. (And you'd better hope some computer or data entry glitch doesn't cause it to say "bingo! you have a winner!" to the cop.) And they walk off with it to do the check. So you basically have to assume it's in a database now if it wasn't before.

For that reason, I wouldn't carry a gun that has "no papers" even though it's perfectly legal because if you are stopped, it will have papers.
 
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