Opinion ID: 6221814
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Omission-Based Claims

Text: In addition to affirmative misrepresentations, Colorado law makes actionable certain omissions of fact. In Colo. Rev. Stat. § 6-1-105(u), a “[f]ail[ure] to disclose material information concerning goods . . . which 11 Appellate Case: 20-1274 Document: 010110645297 Date Filed: 02/15/2022 Page: 12 information was known at the time of an advertisement or sale if such failure to disclose such information was intended to induce the customer to enter into a transaction” is an actionable deceptive trade practice. Colorado law also prohibits fraudulent concealment. For a defendant to be liable for fraudulent concealment, a “plaintiff must show that the defendant had a duty to disclose material information.” In re Rumsey Land Co., LLC, 944 F.3d 1259, 1272 (10th Cir. 2019) (citing Mallon Oil Co. v. Bowen/Edwards Assocs., Inc., 965 P.2d 105, 111 (Colo. 1998) (internal quotation marks omitted)). Whether there is a duty to disclose a fact is a question of law. Poly Trucking, Inc. v. Concentra Health Servs., Inc., 93 P.3d 561, 564 (Colo. App. 2004). In determining whether there is a duty to disclose, Colorado courts have looked to the Restatement (Second) of Torts § 551 for guidance. In re Rumsey Land Co., LLC, 944 F.3d at 1272. The section provides that [o]ne who fails to disclose to another a fact that he knows may justifiably induce the other to act or refrain from acting in a business transaction is subject to the same liability to the other as though he had represented the nonexistence of the matter that he has failed to disclose, if, but only if, he is under a duty to the other to exercise reasonable care to disclose the matter in question. Restatement (Second) of Torts § 551(1) (Am. Law. Inst. 1977); see also Mallon Oil, 965 P.2d at 111; Berger v. Sec. Pac. Info. Sys., Inc., 795 P.2d 1380, 1383 (Colo. App. 1990). Section 551 of the Restatement and the Colorado cases interpreting it demonstrate that in the absence of a special relationship or custom requiring 12 Appellate Case: 20-1274 Document: 010110645297 Date Filed: 02/15/2022 Page: 13 disclosure, a party is not required to disclose material facts unless he has done something to create a false impression.