Colorado § 13-17-302 - Legislative declaration.

§ 13-17-302. Legislative declaration.

(1) The general assembly hereby finds, determines, and declares that:

(a) In recent years, it has become increasingly common for governmental entities to retain attorneys pursuant to contingent fee contracts and disputes have arisen in several states regarding the amount and propriety of contingent fees;

(b) Contingent fees are intended to enable persons of modest means to obtain legal representation that they might not otherwise be able to afford but governmental entities have resources that are unavailable to individual citizens;

(c) Governmental entities should be required to fully consider the costs and risks of litigation before retaining an attorney pursuant to a contingent fee contract;

(d) The department of law ordinarily represents the interests of the state of Colorado;

(e) Governmental officials, including attorneys who represent governmental entities on a contractual basis, are entrusted to protect the health, safety, and well-being of citizens and it is the policy of the state that a person who exercises authority on behalf of a governmental entity generally should not have a personal financial stake in the outcome of litigation initiated on behalf of the governmental entity;

(f) A contingent fee contract that gives an attorney who is retained to represent a governmental entity a direct personal stake in the outcome of legal proceedings is potentially unfair to the citizens or businesses against whom the governmental entity has filed suit and may not serve the best interests of the citizens or businesses on whose behalf the governmental entity initiates legal proceedings;

(g) Because contingent fee contracts do not require the appropriation of moneys, such contracts circumvent the system of checks and balances that ordinarily provides accountability for decisions of governmental entities and it is appropriate to limit contingent fee contracts to ensure that the decision-making process is protected;

(h) A contingent fee contract may result in the payment of excessive attorney fees by a governmental entity, thereby denying citizens represented by government the full measure of justice awarded by the courts;

(i) It is in the best interest of the people of Colorado to limit the circumstances in which governmental entities may retain private attorneys pursuant to contingent fee contracts.

Source: L. 2003: Entire part added, p. 924, § 1, effective August 6.