Attorney says judge insulted jury by tossing $1.2 million award

New trial ordered because of 'boorish' conduct

Daniel J. Chacon, Rocky Mountain News

Published October 9, 2007 at midnight

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An attorney who won a $1.2 million judgment against the city of Denver says that a federal judge who accused him of misconduct insulted the jury by ordering a new trial.

In his order granting the city's motion for a new trial, U.S. District Judge Robert Blackburn called the courtroom behavior of lawyer Mark E. Brennan "boorish and unprofessional" and said it prejudiced the jury.

"Imagine, if you will, Blackburn jumping to the supposition that because of my courtroom wizardry, I was able to mislead all of these highly intelligent, highly experienced people into deciding against the city and county of Denver - not on the basis of the facts and the law but on the basis of their prejudice," Brennan said Monday.

Blackburn did not return a message left at his courtroom Monday.

"I am firmly convinced that Mr. Brennan's misconduct, far from vindicating the cause of justice that he clearly conceived himself as championing, in fact, perverted that cause by prejudicing the jury's verdict and denying the defendant a fair trial," Blackburn wrote in his order.

Among other things, Blackburn's order said that Brennan continued to question witnesses without allowing the judge to rule on objections raised by the city's attorneys.

Blackburn, who found Brennan in contempt of court and fined him $500, also cited Brennan's repeated attempts to inject "editorial comments into the record both in questioning witnesses and in lodging objections."

Brennan said Monday that he readily admits to having "an adolescent sense of humor" but that the judge's characterization of him was overreaching.

"This essentially has nothing to do with my conduct and everything to do with his animosity toward me personally," he said. "Let me tell you something: There are a lot of lawyers in this town who do much more outrageous things than I ever did in that courtroom."

Brennan said he only wanted justice for his client, former Denver firefighter Bill Cadorna, who sued the city for age discrimination after being fired.

"I did my absolute best to represent my client to the best of my ability, in the face of strong resistance of the city and county of Denver and from Judge Blackburn. And I succeeded in persuading a jury that had no particular reason to be kindly inclined toward us to decide in our favor," Brennan said.

Blackburn said in his order that the evidence supporting the age-discrimination claim was "far from compelling" and that the jury's verdict "was the result of impermissible passion and prejudice inflamed by Mr. Brennan's unacceptable trial tactics."

Brennan said he plans to appeal the judge's order and file a motion to remove Blackburn from the case.

Cadorna was falsely accused of stealing a cookbook and was fired.

When the city refused to give him his job back after the charges were dropped, Cadorna sued.

chacond@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5099

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