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Cory M. Curtis

Cory Curtis is a commercial litigator with a broad national practice. He has appeared in state and federal courts in Colorado, Alabama, Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New York, South Carolina and Texas. Mr. Curtis represents clients in trial, arbitration, bankruptcy proceedings, mediation and pre-litigation counseling.

Within the complex business and commercial litigation area, Mr. Curtis has represented corporations litigating breaches of complicated commercial contracts, including joint venture, shareholder, stock purchase and oil and gas agreements. Many of Mr. Curtis’ cases have involved significant international aspects extending to Greece, China, Russia and other countries. In a case involving the sale and service of heavy equipment to a group of investors in China, Mr. Curtis obtained summary judgment for his client after oral argument before the Supreme Court of the State of New York, New York County. He has litigated many business torts, including fraud and misrepresentation, as well as conversion and statutory theft. In many of these cases, business torts were brought with contract claims and Mr. Curtis has successfully invoked the Economic Loss Doctrine to dismiss tort claims and streamline litigation.

In product liability cases, Mr. Curtis defends corporations sued by plaintiffs who often allege catastrophic injuries, including wrongful death. He currently serves as national product liability counsel for a manufacturer of heavy industrial equipment and has litigated cases involving marine products, various construction equipment and oil and gas rigs. In 2008, Mr. Curtis second-chaired a trial in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado where the jury returned a defense verdict for his client. During the trial, Mr. Curtis successfully argued to the district court that under Colorado law the jury must be instructed solely on the risk-benefit test, and not on the consumer expectation test. The plaintiffs appealed the issue to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. In October 2010, the Tenth Circuit issued a published opinion, Kokins, et al. v. Teleflex Inc., -- F.3d -- (10th Cir. 2010), affirming the district court and holding that Colorado law requires the use of solely the risk-benefit test when the design defect issue involves primarily scientific and technical information. Not only did the client not have to pay damages, but a decades-old product line was saved from a defective design adjudication. The case has garnered national attention due in large part to States’ varying approaches for deciding design defect cases.

Within the construction litigation area, Mr. Curtis has represented architects, developers, general contractors, subcontractors and property owners in construction-related disputes. These disputes have often included significant use of statutory lien laws in the State of Colorado. Mr. Curtis assisted with an appeal to the Colorado Supreme Court that resulted in the published opinion Compass Bank v. The Brickman Group, Ltd., 107 P.3d 955 (Colo. 2005), which established the proper method to apportion mechanic’s liens in Colorado. Mr. Curtis also has significant experience in engineering malpractice and negligent construction cases.

Within the creditors’ rights area, Mr. Curtis has represented numerous creditors collecting trade debts in diverse industries, including banking, equipment and parts financing, oil and gas, insurance premium financing, small business, automobile, construction, staffing services and others. He has also represented creditors, creditors’ committees and trustees in bankruptcy court. Over his career, Mr. Curtis has handled numerous bankruptcy matters, including preference, fraudulent conveyance and other avoidance litigation, relief from stay proceedings, proofs of claim and business advice regarding bankruptcy issues.

While in law school, Mr. Curtis served on the Board of Editors for the Denver University Law Review, received Dean’s awards for highest academic achievement in bankruptcy, criminal law and legal writing, and competed in numerous moot court events.

Mr. Curtis is active in Denver’s pro bono community and is a member of the American, Colorado and Denver Bar Associations. Mr. Curtis enjoys spending time with his wife and two young children.