Colorado Employee Ownership Grant

The Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade (COEDIT) offers quarterly grants for Colorado employee-owned businesses. Employee Ownership grant offers funding for small businesses converting to an Employee-Owned Company. A business is considered a Colorado Employee Owned Company using any employee ownership model that offers an ownership stake to at least 20% of their employees. The grant will reimburse professional technical services required to convert your business to a Colorado Employee Owned Company. If you are considering converting your company to be employee owned, check out this Toolkit provided by COEDIT or reach out to our attorneys for more information on the advantages of Employee Ownership.

         The fourth round of the Colorado Employee Ownership Grant is now open and accepting applications from qualifying businesses. The grant will award up to 20 Colorado businesses $3,000 as a reimbursement. Qualifying businesses can submit applications for the Colorado Employee Ownership Grant now through November 4th, 2022. As always, our firm is here to assist small businesses to understand and navigate this opportunity.

Tom Werge elected to the CJI Board of Directors

Werge Law Group is excited to announce that Tom Werge has been elected to the board of directors for the Colorado Judicial Institute (CJI). What is CJI, you ask? Some have described CJI as one of the most important organizations in Colorado that nobody has ever heard of. Basically, CJI supports Colorado’s court system, including through public education about Colorado’s non-partisan system for the selection and retention of judges. Many people do not realize the Colorado’s system does an amazing job of keeping the politics out of our court system – something that stands in great contrast to most other state systems and the federal system. Click HERE for more information about CJI.

Each fall, CJI throws an annual judicial excellence dinner to honor outstanding judges and magistrates in our court system. The gala brings together about 500 business and civic leaders, attorneys, and judges to celebrate the honorees and demonstrate their support for the excellence of Colorado’s courts. This year CJI’s gala is scheduled for November 1, 2022. Anyone interested in supporting our court system and keeping politics out of our courts should register HERE!

Tom has been a member of CJI for many years, and is honored to now be able to increase his support the organization as a board member. Werge Law Group actively supports Colorado non-profit organizations through both volunteer participation and through Greg Corbin’s practice focus on representing non-profits.

Client Spotlight: Front Range Agility Club

Look at this terrific organization and their pups!

Werge Law Group would like to shine a spotlight on a client that we had the pleasure of assisting recently. Front Range Agility Club (FRAC) recently sought out the firm for legal assistance in filing for their nonprofit exemption.

Greg Corbin of Werge Law Group had the pleasure of working with FRAC to update their filing status to become a 501(c)(4) organization. If you're looking for a safe space to train your dog in the art of agility and looking for a welcoming community of canine-athletes and their trainers, then FRAC is the place for you. Established in 1998, they are a non-profit organization that is a "group of people dedicated to the sport of agility."

If you have questions about what it means to compete in canine agility sports or how to get started with training your dog at home, come talk with them at any event. You can check out their website here: Front Range Agility Club.

Werge Law Group Helps Client Defeat 20-Year-Old Judgment

Werge Law Group is excited to announce a big win for our client. In a business deal-gone-bad, our client ended up not responding to a complaint and having a $50,000 judgment entered against him and his business way back in 2002.

Twenty years later, and after the creditor sold its judgment to an individual doing collections work (who later became a lawyer in 2017), the accruing interest caused the judgment to balloon to more than $200,000. However, the judgment was set to expire in April of 2022 due to the 20-year statute of limitations. 

Pursuant to Rule 54(h), a judgment can be revived for an additional 20-year period, so long as the proper steps are taken, including again serving the defendant with a copy of a court order and giving the defendant an opportunity to respond before the expiration of the 20-year period.  

The Plaintiff timely moved for revival of the judgment in February, but then claimed to have only served our client on April 1, 2022. Under Rule 54(h), our client had 14-days to respond, through April 15, 2022. But before the end of the day on April 15, 2022, the Court entered an order reviving the judgment for an additional 20-year period – all the way through 2042. This was a devastating development for our client.

It was around this time that Werge Law Group was retained as counsel. After reviewing the case, we identified that the original judgment order was signed on April 17, 2002, but entered nunc pro tunc (Latin for “as if it had been” entered) to April 12, 2002. We quickly filed a motion for reconsideration of the revival order, identifying that the judgment was void because the plaintiff did not serve our client sufficiently in advance. In what we believe to be a matter of first impression, the Court agreed, citing to Robbins v. A.B. Goldberg, 185 P.3d 794, (Colo. 2008), and finding the responsibility for the delay “lays at the feet of Plaintiff.” Accordingly, the Court reversed its prior decision and vacated the judgment in its entirety. 

We were pleased to obtain such a great result for our client – after twenty years, no longer having to live under the threat of enforcement. If you have a commercial judgment in need of enforcement, or if a judgment has been entered against you related to a business obligation, Werge Law Group would be happy to speak with you about potential representation.

O’Kelly v. Riggs, Case No. 2001CV000080 (Dist. Colo. JeffCo. June 2, 2022, Lochary, J.).

Tom Werge Selected for Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in America

Werge Law Group is pleased to announce that Tom Werge was selected for inclusion in the 2023 edition of The Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in America.

Best Lawyers, a U.S. News and World Report affiliate, is “the oldest and most respected peer review publication in the legal profession.” Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch acknowledges outstanding attorneys in the earlier stages of their careers for outstanding professional excellence in private practice. Recognition is based on peer review and employs a five-step methodology to vet all candidates. This is the second consecutive year Tom has been selected. 

At Werge Law Group, we are honored to continue to have our team members recognized for their hard work in support of our wonderful clients. Congratulations, Tom!

Werge Law Group Team Member Spotlights - Sarah Groven

Werge Law Group is excited to announce that Sarah Groven is joining our team as our new Office Manager. Sarah brings many years of administrative and IT experience. Sarah has already impressed us with her amazing hard work, positive attitude, and new insights she has brought to the team.  We look forward to all the great contributions Sarah will add to our growing firm!

Here’s a little more about Sarah:

Q.     What are some of your hobbies? and how did you get into them?

Answer: My biggest hobby is dungeons and dragons. I first got into it when I saw my older brothers playing as a kid, and from there I found my own group of people to play with. They are all over the world, we play online, and I would have never been able to meet these interesting people without this hobby. Every game is interesting, and we all include parts of our individual cultures in the game and it’s very interesting to see how they mix in. This bleeds into another hobby, which is going to conventions such as Denver Comic Con, or just the Renaissance Festival.

Q.     If you could live anywhere, where would it be?   

Answer: I’d love to live in Ireland. I would also love to be surrounded by all the history there, and all around think it’s a very pretty country. I also have ancestors from there and would love looking into that part of my family history. It helps that I also adore rainy weather. 

Q.  What is the first career you dreamed of having as a kid?

Answer: The first career I dreamed of having as a kid was a conservationist, though I didn’t know the word at the time. I remember watching ‘The crocodile hunter’ on the television when I was a kid, which was the start of my passion for animals. I’d go around telling everyone what I learned on the show that week, and all the animal facts would get written down in one of my many notebooks. The passionate way he talked about animals, even the ones people don’t normally like, made me want to help protect them and their environments. 

Q.  What is a dream you have that you have yet to achieve?

Answer: I’ve always had a dream of owning my own house. I am still working towards that goal slowly but haven’t made it quite yet. It’s my main motivation.

Q.  What is a quote or expression you live by?

Answer: “Do good recklessly.” Magnus Burnsides, The Adventure Zone. 

Q.  What are some of your favorite movies?

Answer: My favorite movie of all time is ‘Castle in the sky,’ by Studio Ghibli. I watched it every night for months when I was growing up. It's a very sweet movie and I watch it with all my younger family members when I babysit them. This is quickly followed by ‘Kiki’s delivery service’ and ‘Princess Mononoke’ by the same studio. 

Kaitlin Turner Appointed District Court Judge

On June 29, 2022, Governor Jared Polis appointed Kaitlin Turner to be a District Court Judge for the 11th Judicial District! Kaitlin has been Of Counsel with Werge Law Group since early 2021. We are honored to have been a part of her journey, and we are so proud of her for achieving this sensational accomplishment. We know that Kaitlin will be an amazing judge, and that she will serve Fremont County with fairness and grace. Congratulations Judge Turner!

Werge Law has merged with Signal Law!

Werge Law LLC and Signal Law LLC law firms have officially merged. Effective April 1, 2022, the firm is now Werge & Corbin LLC and will continue to do business as Werge Law Group. Tom and Greg are enthusiastic to join forces and this expansion represents meaningful additions that will benefit our clients. Our team is excited for this partnership and we look forward to strengthening our relationship with clients and prospective clients as we begin this new venture.

Law Week Colorado covered the merger in an article available here.

BusinessDen also covered the merger in an article available here.