Dennis W. Stark v. Town of Frederick and Bryan Ostler

CourtDistrict Court, D. Colorado
DecidedMarch 19, 2026
Docket1:24-cv-02601
StatusUnknown

This text of Dennis W. Stark v. Town of Frederick and Bryan Ostler (Dennis W. Stark v. Town of Frederick and Bryan Ostler) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Colorado primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dennis W. Stark v. Town of Frederick and Bryan Ostler, (D. Colo. 2026).

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLORADO

Civil Action No. 24-cv-02601-KAS

DENNIS W. STARK,

Plaintiff,

v.

TOWN OF FREDERICK, and BRYAN OSTLER,

Defendants. _____________________________________________________________________

ORDER _____________________________________________________________________ ENTERED BY MAGISTRATE JUDGE KATHRYN A. STARNELLA This matter is before the Court on Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss the Complaint [#27]1 (the “Motion”). Plaintiff filed a Response [#36] and Defendants filed a Reply [#38]. The Court has reviewed the Motion [#27], the entire case file, and the applicable law. For the reasons set forth below, Defendants’ Motion [#27] is GRANTED. I. Background Plaintiff Dennis W. Stark, proceeding pro se,2 asserts employment discrimination claims against Defendants Town of Frederick (the “Town”) and Town Manager Bryan

1 “[#27]” is an example of the convention the Court uses to identify the docket number assigned to a specific paper by the Court’s case management and electronic case filing system (CM/ECF). This convention is used throughout this Recommendation.

2 The Court must liberally construe the filings of a pro se litigant. See Haines v. Kerner, 404 U.S. 519, 520-521 (1972). In doing so, the Court should neither be the pro se litigant’s advocate nor “supply additional factual allegations to round out a plaintiff’s complaint or construct a legal theory on a plaintiff’s behalf.” Whitney v. New Mexico, 113 F.3d 1170, 1175 (10th Cir. 1997) (citing Hall v. Bellmon, 935 F.2d 1106, 1110 (10th Cir. 1991)). Ostler. Compl. [#1] at 3.3 Plaintiff alleges that he has applied for approximately 25 employment positions with the Town and has been denied employment each time. Id. at 9. He claims Defendants discriminated against him in the hiring process based on his age, his “potential handicapped status,” and “other discriminatory practices.” Id.

Plaintiff filed a charge with the Colorado Civil Rights Division and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on September 27, 2023. See Charge [#1-1] at 2- 3. The charge named the Town as the sole respondent and alleged aged-based discrimination and retaliation. Id. A Colorado Civil Rights Division officer determined that no probable cause supported Plaintiff’s charge, and the decision was upheld through the Division’s appeal process. Notice of Appeal [#1-3] at 7; Appeal Letter [#1-3] at 5. The EEOC conducted a substantial weight review of the determination and reached the same conclusion. Determination and Right to Sue [#1-3] at 2-3. Plaintiff then filed the instant lawsuit naming the Town and Ostler as Defendants. Compl. [#1] at 3. Plaintiff does not explicitly state whether he sues Defendant Ostler in

his official or individual capacity. Official capacity claims against a municipal employee are treated as a suit against the municipality itself. See Johnson v. Bd. of Cnty. Comm’rs, 85 F.3d 489, 493 (10th Cir. 1996). Because Plaintiff has also named the Town as a defendant, and because Plaintiff sues for monetary damages, the Court assumes that Plaintiff intended to name Defendant Ostler in his individual capacity. In his complaint, Plaintiff asserts the following claims for relief: 1. Age discrimination pursuant to the Age Discrimination in Employment Act

3 Citations to page numbers refer to the numbering stamped at the top of each page by the Court’s CM/ECF docketing system, not to the filing’s original page numbering. (ADEA), 29 U.S.C. §§ 621 et seq.; 2. Religious discrimination pursuant to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII), 42 U.S.C. 2000e et seq.; 3. Disability discrimination pursuant to the Americans with Disabilities Act

(ADA), 42 U.S.C. §§ 12101 et seq.; and 4. Defamation. Id. at 3-4. Although Plaintiff did not check the Americans with Disabilities Act as a basis for his claims on this Court’s standard Employment Discrimination Complaint form, he later checked “failure to accommodate disability” as a component of the complained-of conduct, and he checked “disability” as a reason for the Defendants’ alleged discrimination on the next page. Id. at 4. Construing his pleadings liberally, the Court assumes that Plaintiff intended to assert a claim under the ADA. Defendants conferred with Plaintiff before filing the instant Motion [#27] concerning what they believed were defects in the complaint as pleaded. Notice re: Conferral [#26].

Plaintiff did not file an amended complaint attempting to remedy any of the defects that Defendants identified. Defendants now move for complete dismissal because (1) Defendant Ostler is an improperly named defendant; (2) Plaintiff’s defamation claim is jurisdictionally barred by the Colorado Governmental Immunity Act (“CGIA”), Colo. Rev. Stat. § 24-10-101 et seq.; (3) Plaintiff has failed to administratively exhaust his disability and religious discrimination claims; and (4) Plaintiff has failed to plausibly allege facts in support of his age discrimination claim. Motion [#27]. Defendants also assert a handful of alternative arguments for dismissal in the event that the Court is unpersuaded by their leading arguments. See id. Plaintiff does not substantively respond to these legal arguments in his Response [#36]. Instead, he asks the Court to reconsider his motion for appointment of volunteer

counsel because his case “should not be dismissed due to the Plaintiff’s inadvertent omission of legal technicalities or procedures.” Response [#36] at 1. Plaintiff informs the Court that he has experienced “numerous medical issues” making it challenging for him to “conduct the necessary research and develop the appropriate counterarguments to the Defendant’s submitted position(s).” Id. at 2. Finally, Plaintiff argues that the cases that Defendants cite in support of their arguments “appear to be a shotgun attempt to deflect the Court’s attention from the facts of the case and overwhelm the Plaintiff with legal jargon.” Id. at 3. The Court is mindful of the difficulties that pro se litigants face and will endeavor to analyze the Defendants’ arguments—including the important legal prerequisites to bringing a lawsuit in federal court—clearly and concisely.

II. Legal Standards A. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) The Court may not consider cases over which it does not have subject-matter jurisdiction. If a party believes that the Court might not have jurisdiction to hear a case, it may move to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(1). “To survive a 12(b)(1) motion to dismiss, a plaintiff must demonstrate that the court has subject-matter jurisdiction.” Audubon of Kan., Inc. v. U.S. Dep’t of Interior, 67 F.4th 1093, 1108 (10th Cir. 2023). In other words, “[a] Rule 12(b)(1) motion to dismiss only requires the court to determine whether it has authority to adjudicate the matter.” Kenney v. Helix TCS, Inc., 939 F.3d 1106, 1108 (10th Cir. 2019). When a party attacks the factual basis for subject matter jurisdiction, the court “may consider evidence to resolve disputed jurisdictional facts.” SK Fin. SA v. La Plata Cnty.

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Dennis W. Stark v. Town of Frederick and Bryan Ostler, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dennis-w-stark-v-town-of-frederick-and-bryan-ostler-cod-2026.