CO Bar Law Specifics 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Under Colorado law, what is required to establish a common law marriage?
- Mutual agreement to be married plus conduct manifesting that agreement, such as cohabitation and reputation as spouses (Correct answer)
- Cohabitation for at least seven continuous years
- A signed cohabitation agreement filed with the county clerk
- A ceremony performed by any adult witness
Correct answer: Mutual agreement to be married plus conduct manifesting that agreement, such as cohabitation and reputation as spouses
Colorado recognizes common law marriage based on the parties' mutual agreement to be married plus conduct evidencing that agreement, with no minimum cohabitation period.
Question 2: Colorado follows which doctrine for allocating rights to surface water?
- Prior appropriation, giving priority to the first user who puts water to beneficial use (Correct answer)
- Riparian rights based on land ownership adjacent to the watercourse
- Equal apportionment among all landowners in the watershed
- State ownership with annual permit auctions
Correct answer: Prior appropriation, giving priority to the first user who puts water to beneficial use
Colorado is the classic prior appropriation state, where 'first in time, first in right' governs water use based on beneficial application.
Question 3: In Colorado, the statute of limitations for most breach of contract actions is:
- Three years (Correct answer)
- Two years
- Six years
- Ten years
Correct answer: Three years
Colorado generally applies a three-year limitations period to contract claims, though liquidated debts and certain instruments carry six years.
Question 4: Colorado's comparative negligence statute bars a plaintiff's recovery when the plaintiff's fault is:
- Equal to or greater than the combined fault of all defendants (Correct answer)
- Greater than 50 percent only
- Any amount, because Colorado follows contributory negligence
- More than 25 percent of total fault
Correct answer: Equal to or greater than the combined fault of all defendants
Colorado uses modified comparative negligence with a 50% bar, so a plaintiff who is 50% or more at fault recovers nothing.
Question 5: Under the Colorado Rules of Professional Conduct, a lawyer may advise a client regarding marijuana businesses that comply with state law if the lawyer:
- Also advises the client regarding related federal law and policy (Correct answer)
- Obtains written consent from the U.S. Attorney's office
- Limits advice to entities licensed in other states
- Declines any fee derived from marijuana revenue
Correct answer: Also advises the client regarding related federal law and policy
Comment 14 to Colorado Rule 2.1 (and related guidance to Rule 1.2) permits counseling state-legal marijuana clients if the lawyer also advises them about federal law and policy.
Question 6: In Colorado, exemplary (punitive) damages in a civil action may be requested:
- Only by amending the pleadings after the exchange of initial disclosures and establishing prima facie proof of a triable issue (Correct answer)
- In the initial complaint as a matter of right
- Only after the jury returns a liability verdict
- Never, because Colorado abolished punitive damages
Correct answer: Only by amending the pleadings after the exchange of initial disclosures and establishing prima facie proof of a triable issue
C.R.S. § 13-21-102 bars pleading exemplary damages in the initial complaint; a plaintiff must later amend after showing prima facie proof of a triable issue.
Question 7: Colorado's felony murder rule was modified by 2021 legislation so that felony murder is now classified as:
- A class 2 felony rather than a class 1 felony (Correct answer)
- A class 1 felony punishable by death
- A misdemeanor when no weapon is used
- A class 4 felony in all cases
Correct answer: A class 2 felony rather than a class 1 felony
Effective 2021, Colorado reclassified felony murder from a class 1 to a class 2 felony, removing life without parole as the mandatory sentence.
CO Bar Law Specifics 2
Under Colorado law, what is required to establish a common law marriage?