Elizabeth J. Hyatt, Esq.

Of Counsel

Betsy Hyatt graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Colorado State University with a degree in economics and a minor in mathematics. In 1998, Ms. Hyatt received her J.D. from the University of Colorado, where she served on the Board of Editors of the Colorado Journal of International Environmental Law & Policy. Prior to joining Starrs Mihm LLP in 2005, she practiced for several years with an employment and civil rights defense law firm and then with a professional liability defense firm.

Ms. Hyatt has successfully tried bench and jury trials as second chair and as lead counsel on behalf of entities and individuals. Her practice includes the areas of legal malpractice, business torts, civil rights, and employment litigation. Ms. Hyatt is admitted to practice in the state courts of Colorado, the United States District Court, District of Colorado, and the Tenth and Eleventh Circuit Courts of Appeals.

Ms. Hyatt is active in the Business Torts Litigation Committee of the American Bar Association’s Section of Litigation, where she is an editor of the Committee’s website.

In 2009, 2010 and 2011, Ms. Hyatt was named a“Colorado Super Lawyer Rising Star^®” by the publishers of 5280 Magazine and Law & Politics Magazine. She is rated “8.4 out of 10 Excellent” by Avvo.com.

Areas of Practice

• Legal Malpractice Litigation
• Business Tort and Fraud Litigation
• Civil Rights Litigation
• Employment Litigation
• General Civil Litigation

Recent Trials and Cases of Note

• Ms. Hyatt and Elizabeth Starrs recently won the largest plaintiff verdict in memory in Montrose County Colorado.  In Will v. McKenna, Montrose County District Court, Ms. Starrs and Ms. Hyatt represented the plaintiff in this legal malpractice case involving the lawyer’s mishandling of the plaintiff’s underlying podiatry malpractice case. After an eight day trial, the jury found the lawyer negligent and liable for breach of the contingency fee contract and awarded the plaintiff $1.15 million in damages against the defendant lawyer.
• Ms. Hyatt represented network marketing individuals and an entity sued by Monarch Health Sciences in federal court in Utah. Ms. Hyatt and Richard Caschette successfully brought counterclaims based on breach of contract, promissory estoppel, state securities fraud, and tortuous interference with business relationships against Monarch. The case settled for an amount in excess of $3 million paid to Ms. Hyatt’s clients shortly before trial. Monarch v. Corkin, U.S. District Court, Central District of Utah.
• Ms. Hyatt represented owners of a beauty salon against their neighbors, owners and operators of fish market for nuisance, negligence, and trespass. After receiving injunctive relief from a trial to the court for the abatement of the nuisance, along with a damages award, Ms. Hyatt succeeded in pursuing contempt charges against the fish market owners and operators for failure to comply with the injunction. Ung v. Indochina, Denver District Court.
• Ms. Hyatt brought legal malpractice, breach of fiduciary duties, and civil theft claims on behalf of her clients against the lawyers after her clients were sued by the lawyers for breach of contract, quantum meriut, fraud, and libel, The case resulted in a confidential settlement agreement. Hogan v. Oertli, Jefferson County District Court.

Publications

• Elizabeth J. Hyatt and Michael T. Mihm, “Statutory Legal Malpractice Claims,” Chapter 29, Lawyers’ Professional Liability in Colorado, Second Ed. (Michael T. Mihm, ed., CLE in Colorado, Inc., 2005, Supp. 2009). Click here to read this chapter about statutory claims against lawyers.
• Elizabeth J. Hyatt and Michael T. Mihm, “Damages For Injuries or Losses Caused by Legal Malpractice,” Chapter 31, Lawyers’ Professional Liability in Colorado, Second Ed. (Michael T. Mihm, ed., CLE in Colorado, Inc., 2005, Supp. 2009). Click here to read this chapter on the law of damages in legal malpractice cases.

Lectures and Seminars

• Panel Speaker, “Perry Mason, Arnie Becker or Denny Crane: To What Generational Beat Do You March and Does It Make a Difference in Your Legal Practice?” in ABA section of Litigation Committee on Corporate Counsel CLE Seminar, Scottsdale, Arizona (February 2008)
• Speaker, “Common Law & Statutory Claims” in 2007 Preventing Legal Malpractice Seminars, Colorado Bar Association, Colorado Springs and Denver, Colorado (January and February, 2007).

Professional Affiliations and Honors

• Named a Colorado Super Lawyer, Rising Star for 2009 and 2010
• American Bar Association – Litigation Section – Business Torts Litigation Committee (Web Editor)
• Colorado Bar Association – Member, Lawyers Professional Liability Committee
• Colorado Women’s Bar Association

Bar Admissions

• Colorado,1998
• U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado,1998
• Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, 1998
• Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, 2003

Education

• University of Colorado School of Law , J.D., 1998
• Colorado State University, B.A., Cum Laude, 1994

Practicing: Business Torts/Fraud Litigation (Plaintiff), Legal Malpractice Litigation (Plaintiff), Civil/Commercial Litigation, Civil Rights Litigation (Plaintiff), Probate Litigation