Chapter 15 - § 15.5 • OVERLAP WITH CIVIL AND CRIMINAL THEFT

• Jurisdiction: Colorado

§ 15.5 • OVERLAP WITH CIVIL AND CRIMINAL THEFT

Plaintiffs bringing claims for conversion may also bring a claim against the defendant for civil theft. The Rights in Stolen Property statute provides that:

All property obtained by theft, robbery, or burglary shall be restored to the owner, and no sale, whether in good faith on the part of the purchaser or not, shall divest the owner of his right to such property. The owner may maintain an action not only against the taker thereof but also against any person in whose possession he finds the property. In any such action, the owner may recover two hundred dollars or three times the amount of the actual damages sustained by him, whichever is greater, and may also recover costs of the action and reasonable attorney fees; but monetary damages and attorney fees shall not be recoverable from a good-faith purchaser or good-faith holder of the property.⁴¹

The Colorado Supreme Court has held that to succeed on a claim for civil theft, a plaintiff must show that the defendant committed criminal theft, but not that he or she was criminally convicted for it.⁴² However, unlike conversion, civil theft does require that the defendant act with specific intent to deprive the plaintiff of his or her property.⁴³

Practice Pointer
Asserting a claim for civil theft carries with it the potential risk of eliminating the availability of liability insurance to cover a damages award entered against the defendant.⁴⁴

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Notes:

^[41] C.R.S. § 18-4-405. As of publication of this book, Colorado has no pattern civil jury instructions for the tort of civil theft.

^[42] Itin v. Ungar, 17...