Firelock Inc. v. Dist. Ct

In Firelock Inc. v. Dist. Ct., 776 P.2d 1090, 1097, 1099 (Colo. 1989) the Colorado Supreme Court considered whether compulsory arbitration for actions involving monetary damages less than $50,000 violated the right to trial by jury and equal protection and concluded it did not violate either. The court determined that Colorado's law providing for the payment of arbitration costs if the party seeking trial de novo did not improve that party's position by 10% did not unreasonably burden the availability of a jury trial. Id. at 1096-97. The court also determined that it was not unreasonable to subject damage claims under the threshold amount to arbitration and such a distinction was rationally related to legitimate government interests served by arbitration. Id. at 1098-99.