The Colorado Attorney General’s Office has asked a judge to reject Lower North Fork fire victims’ request to disregard a State Claims Board’s decision on damages, and award instead the higher amounts recommended by arbiters.
Over two days of hearings last week, the board agreed to recommend that legislators pay about $12 million to 26 claimants for economic losses caused by the 2012 blaze, which started as a prescribed burn set by the Colorado Fire Service.
That is far more than the $600,000 cap on negligence claims for all successful litigants set by the state Governmental Immunity Act.
However, members of a Judicial Arbiter’s Group had earlier recommended the group receive payouts totaling more than $16 million plus interest. The recommendations included damages for property and other economic losses, as well as payments for loss of life in the fire, which killed three, and other non-economic losses.
At least 13 of the 26 claimants challenged the board’s decision.
The Attorney General’s filing with Jefferson County District Judge Dennis Hall is the latest twist in a legal battle that has so far cost the state $795,000.
The fire victims say that the arbiters determination of damages are binding on the state.
The AG’s filing says damages determined by arbiters provide evidence of uncompensated losses that the board can use to recommend compensation greater than the cap set by the state Governmental Immunity Act.
The board agreed to recommended the General Assembly pay about 86 percent of economic damages found by arbiters, and none of the non-economic losses
The law bars the board from recommending non-economic damages.
And while the state Department of Public Safety and the claimants are bound by aribters’ determination of damages, “the claims board, as a separate deliberative body is not bound. There is no requirement in the statute that the claims board must recommend the full amount requested by a claimant,” according to the AG’s filing.
The filing goes on to argue that Hall doesn’t have jurisdiction to enter any judgement greater than the statutory cap of $600,000.
A lawyer for some of the claimants, William Finger, said the AG’s filing does not “provide accurate analysis of the law to the judge.”
The arbiters’ decisions should be submitted to the legislature and “the legislature should fund those judgements accordingly,” he said.
“Those were fair and impartial decisions by experienced learned individuals who have served in the court system.”
Tom McGhee: 303-954-1671, tmcghee@denverpost.com or twitter.com/dpmcghee
