Opinion ID: 751716
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Certification of the Question

Text: 6 As we explained in Rocky Mountain I, the doctrine of issue preclusion (formerly known as collateral estoppel) limits the litigation of issues that have been decided in a previous action. In the proceeding before the Colorado court, Rocky Mountain's complaint alleged that Lawrence was personally liable under the sublease. As a necessary predicate to a possible grant of summary judgment, the district judge had to determine whether the default judgment decided that Lawrence was personally liable under the sublease and hence estopped him from relitigating that issue. Because a Colorado court rendered the default judgment, Colorado law governs whether the judgment has issue-preclusive effect. See 28 U.S.C. § 1738 (full faith and credit statute); Marrese v. American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, 470 U.S. 373, 380, 105 S.Ct. 1327, 1331-32, 84 L.Ed.2d 274 (1985). The district judge, in a careful and well-reasoned opinion and without the benefit of precedent from the Colorado Supreme Court, concluded that the default judgment did not give rise to issue preclusion. 7 In resolving this puzzling matter, the district court emphasized that a majority of federal courts, the Restatement (Second) of Judgments § 27, and commentators such as Charles Wright, Arthur Miller, and Edward Cooper have rejected the notion that a default judgment results in issue preclusion. Although this is persuasive evidence of how the Colorado Supreme Court might rule, in Rocky Mountain I we were concerned about two opinions from the Colorado Court of Appeals that, while not on all fours with the instant case, nonetheless suggested that Colorado may have bucked the national trend. We also noted, as did the district judge, that, as recently as 1996, a state supreme court had held that default judgments have issue-preclusive effect. See TransDulles Center, Inc. v. Sharma, 252 Va. 20, 472 S.E.2d 274, 276 (1996). In light of the conflicting authority and our uncertainty about the application of the prior Colorado Court of Appeals decisions, we certified a question to the Colorado Supreme Court. But that court promptly refused the certification, as is its right. 8 As a result of this flea-flicker, we find ourselves back behind the line of scrimmage and still confronted with the threshold question: under Colorado law, does the default judgment rendered against Lawrence estop him from litigating the issue of his personal liability under the sublease? As we tackle this question for a second time, we admittedly are tempted to attribute some meaning to the Colorado Supreme Court's refusal of our certified question. Does it reflect implicit approval of prior statements of the Colorado Court of Appeals? This interpretation seems plausible. Or perhaps it connotes agreement with the opinion of the federal district judge? This seems less likely. But, in any event, like the usual denial of certiorari by the United States Supreme Court, see generally Peter Linzer, The Meaning of Certiorari Denials, 79 Colum.L.Rev. 1227 (1979), refusals of certified questions have no precedential significance. Accordingly, we will try to approach the issue whether the default judgment gave rise to issue preclusion without ascribing any particular significance to the disappointing response of the Colorado Supreme Court.