The law establishes time limits for suing someone through laws called statutes of limitation. Different states have different time limits.  The statute of limitation for breach of a written contract in Colorado is three years.  The statute of limitation for breach of an oral contract in Colorado is two years.  The statute of limitation for tort actions arising from a breach of contract is two years.  When the clock starts running for calculating whether each of the above time periods has expired is not always obvious.  The clock almost never starts running on the day the contract is entered into.  Oftentimes, the time period does not begin to run until the alleged breach of contract was discovered or should have discovered.

Yes, oral contracts are just harder to prove that they exist and exactly what their terms are. To prove the existence of oral contracts, it is best if other written documents exist that will help to prove the existence of the oral contract, such as e-mails, shipping records and other correspondence.

Agreeing to arbitrate usually means that you will obtain a quicker resolution of your dispute. However, arbitration is not always the cheapest way to resolve disputes given that one or both of the parties to the arbitration are required to pay the cost of the arbitrator and sometimes arbitrators allow the cost of the arbitration to spiral out of control. In addition, it is oftentimes thought that arbitrators are more likely than judges to "split the baby" when it comes to deciding the issues in dispute.

To sue a non-Colorado resident or business in Colorado you need to be able to establish that the non-resident has the constitutionally required “minimum contacts” with Colorado. That means you need to establish the following types of things: that the non-resident availed himself or itself of the privilege of acting in Colorado or causing important consequences in Colorado, the cause of action to be asserted against the non-resident arises from the consequences of the non-resident’s activities, and the activities of the non-resident or the consequences of such activities has a substantial enough connection to Colorado to make the exercise of jurisdiction over the non-resident reasonable.

With one limited statutory exception, corporations and other legal entities are not allowed to represent their own interests in a state court proceeding in Colorado and must retain a lawyer. If a non-lawyer attempts such representation, the opposing party can ask the Court to reject any document filed with the Court by the non-lawyer.

Generally contracts require an offer and acceptance between competent parties, the exchange of consideration (i.e. the agreement to exchange something of value), and must involve a legal activity.

A party attempting to recover on a breach of contract action in Colorado must prove the following elements: (1) the existence of a contract; (2) performance by the plaintiff or some justification for non-performance; (3) failure to perform the contract by the defendant; and (4) resulting damages to the plaintiff.

The measure of damages is the amount it takes to place the plaintiff in the position it would have occupied had the breach not occurred (sometimes referred to as the amount of money necessary to provide the non-breaching party with the benefit of their bargain). Such damages must be traceable to and the direct result of the wrong to be redressed and must be reasonably foreseeable at the time the parties entered into the contract in question. Such damages must also be reasonably ascertainable, and not too remote or speculative.

If you file a lawsuit in state or federal court in Colorado, it will usually take around a year to a year and a half for the trial of the matter to be held. However, it should be noted that new rules of civil procedure for “Business Actions” have been implemented in Colorado as of January 1, 2012 for complaints filed in state court in the following counties: Denver, Jefferson, Gilpin, Adams and Arapahoe. The motivation behind the new rules is to make it cheaper and faster to get lawsuits resolved. Thus, with respect to “Business Actions” filed in state court in the above-listed counties, it is expected that it may now only take around eight months from the filing of the lawsuit to the trial of the matter.

Usually attorneys’ fees are not recoverable by the winner of a lawsuit. Attorneys’ fees are only usually recoverable if a special statute exists that allows for such an award or the parties have agreed in the contract upon which the lawsuit is based that the prevailing party to any dispute arising regarding the contract is entitled to the recovery of their attorneys’ fees.

Yes, although contingency fees are only usually used in personal injury cases, and cannot be used in family law cases, nothing usually prevents a client and a lawyer from agreeing to a contingency fee arrangement in a contract case so that the lawyer only gets paid if the client wins the case.

Mediation is usually used to refer to a procedure in which the parties attempt to resolve their dispute by asking a neutral party to review the applicable facts and law in an effort to assist the parties to agree to a settlement. Opinions expressed by a mediator are usually not binding on the parties. In contrast, arbitration is usually used to refer to a procedure in which the parties ask a neutral party to serve as a privately hired judge to actually determine exactly how the dispute should be resolved. Opinions expressed by an arbitrator are usually binding on the parties and the winning party can usually go to Court to have the ruling of the arbitrator adopted by the Court as its own ruling. Once that occurs, the winner can use the legal system to enforce its arbitration award in the same manner as the winning party to a lawsuit can use the legal system to enforce a Court judgment.

Usually not. However, in certain circumstances, the law allows you to sue the owners of corporations and LLCs. The legal concept is called piercing the corporate veil. To do so, certain facts need to be proved, including but not limited to, whether: (1) the corporation has been operated as a distinct business entity; (2) funds and assets have been commingled; (3) adequate corporate records have been maintained; (4) the nature and form of the entity’s ownership and control facilitate misuse by an insider; (5) the business is thinly capitalized; (6) the corporation is used as a “mere shell;” (7) shareholders disregard legal formalities; and (8) corporate funds or assets are used for non-corporate purposes.