Rotz v. Hyatt Corp.

2012 COA 29, 296 P.3d 164, 2012 WL 503670, 2012 Colo. App. LEXIS 237
CourtColorado Court of Appeals
DecidedFebruary 16, 2012
DocketNo. 11CA0329
StatusPublished

This text of 2012 COA 29 (Rotz v. Hyatt Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Colorado Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rotz v. Hyatt Corp., 2012 COA 29, 296 P.3d 164, 2012 WL 503670, 2012 Colo. App. LEXIS 237 (Colo. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

Opinion by

Judge MILLER.

T1 In this premises liability action, plaintiff, Judith Rotz, appeals from a trial court judgment dismissing her action against defendant, Hyatt Corporation, for failure to timely file a nonresident cost bond pursuant to sections 18-16-1011 to -102, C.R.S.2011.

T2 We conclude that the trial court erroneously determined that once plaintiff failed to file the cost bond by the date set in its order, without any showing of indigeney or waiver, section 13-16-102 deprived the court of discretion to do anything but dismiss the case. In reaching that conclusion, we hold that Hytken v. Wake, 68 P.8d 508, 511 (Colo. App.2002), does not divest a trial court of all discretion to accept a late-filed cost bond.

T3 We accordingly reverse the judgment of dismissal and remand the case to the trial court with instructions.

I. Background

T4 Because plaintiff is a resident of Maryland and not Colorado, defendant moved for a cost bond pursuant to sections 13-16-101 to -102, under which a trial court may require a nonresident plaintiff to file a bond for the payment of the costs of the suit, On August 31, 2010, the trial court granted the motion and ordered plaintiff to file a cost bond in the amount of $5,000 within fourteen days. When plaintiff failed to file the bond or a motion for extension of time by September 22, 2010, defendant moved to dismiss the action pursuant to section 183-16-102.

[ 5 On September 23, 2010, plaintiff filed a cost bond, six days after the deadline (as automatically enlarged by C.R.C.P. 6(e)) set in the order, together with a response to the motion to dismiss. Plaintiff's response explained that she had obtained a cost bond on September 17, 2010 but that her counsel had been unable to file it as a result of preparing for and attending an unrelated jury trial.

T 6 The trial court granted defendant's motion and dismissed the action after concluding that, unless the plaintiff is indigent or the defendant waives its claim to the cost bond, "the court bas no discretion regarding the filing of a cost bond by a nonresident plaintiff, and dismissal for his failure to do so is mandatory." The court further concluded that neither indigence nor waiver exeused plaintiff's failure to timely file a cost bond. It observed that plaintiff offered no argument as to why the court should excuse the delay and that plaintiff failed to request an extension during the fourteen-day period. The court concluded that, under section 13-16-102, trial courts do not have discretion to excuse such a delay.

17 Plaintiff then moved to vacate the order of dismissal. In this motion, plaintiff asserted that her counsel's trial was not the cause of the delay. She explained that she had begun the process of securing a cost bond no later than three days after entry of the court's order; due to geographic, paperwork, and money transfer issues, it took her seventeen days to locate a bonding company and execute a bond; she mistakenly returned the signed bond to the bonding company, rather than to her counsel; the bonding company promptly forwarded the bond to plaintiff's counsel; and counsel filed it the same day he received it. Plaintiff argued that the [166]*166trial court had misconstrued section 13-16-102 and also asked the court to retroactively extend the deadline pursuant to C.R.C.P. 6(b). The court denied the motion to vacate after concluding that section 18-16-1022 and Hytken v. Wake "mandate denial."

II Analysis

T8 Plaintiff contends that the trial court erred in holding that section 18-16-102 mandated dismissal of the action and deprived it of discretion to accept the bond. We agree.

T9 Ordinarily, we review a trial court's dismissal of a suit for a plaintiffs neglect or refusal to file a cost bond for an abuse of discretion. See Hytken, 68 P.3d at 510. However, statutory construction is a question of law we review de novo. See Bly v. Story, 241 P.8d 529, 583 (Colo.2010). We therefore review the trial court's interpretation of section 13-16-102 de novo.

110 When interpreting the requirements of a statute, we endeavor to effectuate the intent of the General Assembly. Walcoff v. District Court, 924 P.2d 168, 165 (Colo.1996). In doing so, we first consider the plain language of the statute. Id. Because we presume the General Assembly meant what it said, we endeavor to give words and phrases used in the statutes effect according to their plain and ordinary meaning. [d.

11 Where a plaintiff is not a resident of Colorado, the court may, upon motion, order the plaintiff to file a cost bond "on or before the day in such order named." §§ 13-16-101(2), 13-16-102. Section 18-16-1022 further provides in relevant part that:

To ensure that access to the courts is not unreasonably denied, a court shall not require an instrument in writing for the payment of costs of suit in excess of five thousand dollars. If the nonresident plaintiff meglects or refuses, on or before the day in such rule named, to file such instrument, the court, on motion, shall dismiss the suit.

(Emphasis added); see also § 18-16-101(2) (containing language identical to the first quoted sentence).

{12 Here, there is no contention that plaintiff refused to file the bond. The case therefore turns on the meaning of the term "neglect," as used in section 13-16-1022. The parties rely heavily on Hytken to support their respective positions in that regard. Indeed, language in that opinion provides some succor to both.

113 In Hytken, the trial court initially ordered the nonresident plaintiffs to file a cost bond within twenty days. 68 P.3d at 509. They sought and obtained three extensions of time in which to file the bond, including one sought after the second extension expired. Id. at 509-10. The trial court denied their fourth motion for an extension of time and granted the defendant's motion to dismiss the action. Id. at 510. By that point, nearly two and one-half months had passed since the original order without the plaintiffs ever having filed a bond. Id. at 509-10.

14 Defendant points out that the division's opinion states that "[u)nder §§ 18-16-101 and 13-16-102 the court has no discretion regarding the filing of a cost bond, and dismissal for failure to do so is mandatory" unless the nonresident plaintiff can establish indigency or waiver by the defendant. Id. at 511. Other than these two exceptions,

nothing in the statutes or case law provides an exception for a nonresident plaintiff who is unable to obtain a cost bond despite good faith efforts to do so, nor does the statute contemplate a showing of excusable neglect. In fact, the statute unambiguously makes neglect inexcusable by mandating dismissal in the event of its occurrence.

Id.

115 However, supporting plaintiff's position here, the opinion also holds that "the trial court has discretion to determine whether a plaintiff's delay in filing a cost bond is a result of neglect or refusal." Id. at 510. The division also stressed that the plaintiffs in that case obtained several extensions of time but never filed a cost bond. Id. at 512. The division did not suggest that the trial court abused its discretion in granting any of those extensions, even the one sought after the previous extension had expired. The division did not rule that the cost bond statute mandated dismissal in the case. Rather, [167]

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Bluebook (online)
2012 COA 29, 296 P.3d 164, 2012 WL 503670, 2012 Colo. App. LEXIS 237, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rotz-v-hyatt-corp-coloctapp-2012.