Woodruff v. Tschetter

── Woodruff v. Tschetter ── Court: Colorado Court of Appeals Date: May 28, 2026 Category: General 24CA1323 Woodruff v Tschetter 05-28-2026 COLORADO COURT OF APPEALS Court of Appeals No. 24CA1323 City and County of Denver District Court No. 23CV31623 Honorable Sarah B. Wallace, Judge Courtney Woodruff, Gheri Smith, Cristobal Zambrano, Casey Hodges, Joshua Shipley, Wesley Morgan, and Shannon Copeland, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Tschetter Sulzer, P.C.; Cornerstone Apartment Services, Inc.; RedPeak Properties, LLC; Echelon Property Group, LLC; Colorado Apartment Association, Inc.; and Asset Living, LLC, Defendants-Appellees. JUDGMENT REVERSED AND CASE REMANDED WITH DIRECTIONS Division I Opinion by JUDGE GROVE J. Jones and Schutz, JJ., concur NOT PUBLISHED PURSUANT TO C.A.R. 35(e) Announced May 28, 2026 Haddon, Morgan and Foreman, P.C., Ty Gee, Jacob McMahon, Denver, Colorado; Carol Kennedy, Denver, Colorado, for Plaintiffs-Appellants Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani LLP, John M. Palmeri, John R. Mann, Tamara A. Seelman, Rose Zetzman, Denver, Colorado, for Defendant-Appellee Tschetter Sulzer, P.C. Womble Bond Dickinson (US) LLP, Frederick J. Baumann, Angela M. Vichick, Joseph Hykan, Denver, Colorado, for Defendant-Appellee Cornerstone Apartment Services, Inc. Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP, Timothy M. Reynolds, Marcia M. Levitan- Haffar, Boulder, Colorado, for Defendant-Appellee RedPeak Properties, LLC Clark Hill PLC, Stefanie Mann Chadha, Claire E. Wells Hanson, Darren B. Kaplan, Denver, Colorado, for Defendants-Appellees Echelon Property Group, LLC, and Asset Living, LLC Greenberg Traurig LLP, Naomi Beer, H. Camille Papini-Chapla, Denver, Colorado for Defendant-Appellee Colorado Apartment Association, Inc. Spencer R. Bailey, Denver, Colorado, for Amicus Curiae CED Law ¶1 Plaintiffs, Courtney Woodruff, Gheri Smith, Cristobal Zambrano, Casey Hodges, Joshua Shipley, Wesley Morgan, and Shannon Copeland (collectively, the tenants), appeal the district court’s C.R.C.P. 56(h) order and subsequent judgment dismissing their claims against defendants, Cornerstone Apartment Services, Inc.; RedPeak Properties, LLC; Echelon Property Group, LLC (Echelon); and Asset Living, LLC (collectively, the landlords), as well as the law firm representing the landlords, Tschetter Sulzer, P.C. (Tschetter Sulzer), and the Colorado Apartment Association, Inc. (CAA) (collectively with the landlords, the defendants). We reverse the judgment of dismissal and remand the case for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. I. Introduction ¶2 A tenant unlawfully detains real property by retaining possession of the premises without the landlord’s permission (1) after the tenant has defaulted in rent payments; and (2) after the landlord has given the tenant timely written notice requiring, in the alternative, the payment of rent or vacating the premises. § 13-40- 104(1)(d), C.R.S. 2025. As relevant here, if a landlord properly demands payment of the amounts owed and the tenant fails to cure 1  the default by paying them within ten days, the landlord may file a forcible entry and detainer (FED) action, seeking “rent due or to become due, present and future damages, costs, and any other relief to which [the landlord] is entitled.” § 13-40-110(1)(e), C.R.S. 2025. ¶3 In 2021, the General Assembly extended the cure period available to a tenant who falls behind on rent by allowing the tenant to bring her account up to date after an FED action has been filed — so long as she does so before the court issues a judgment in the landlord’s favor. See Ch. 349, sec. 3, § 13-40-115(4), 2021 Colo. Sess. Laws 2264. Specifically, [a] landlord who provides a tenant with proper notice of nonpayment shall accept payment of