Pueblo attorney who worked for mayor's former law firm accused of malpractice

A Pueblo attorney and school board member who once worked for Pueblo Mayor Nick Gradisar’s now-defunct law firm is accused of allowing and assisting a Crowley County development company’s managing member to bilk his partners out of millions of dollars.

The allegations are part of a bombshell civil lawsuit that names Pueblo attorneys Anthony Perko, Gradisar, his son Douglas Gradisar, Charles Trechter, James Ripperger and David Roth as defendants. The suit was filed last year and was due to go to trial next month, but it is now headed for a settlement in Pueblo County District Court, according to a July 13 court filing which indicates all parties have reached an agreement.

The suit alleges that Crowley County Improvements Co. LLC managing member Dean Hiatt of Colorado Springs caused his business partners losses of more than $3 million in income with Perko allowing and assisting him to do so. The company formed to buy 113 acres of land known as Tamarack Acres Subdivision, which was to be subdivided and improved, in part, with a greenhouse and water line for a cannabis grow.

Perko served as the Crowley County Improvements Co. LLC attorney from Aug. 25, 2016, until Feb. 24, 2022, when he was fired, according to the lawsuit. During that time, Perko was an employee of Gradisar, Trechter, Ripperger & Roth until he formed his own law firm, Perko Law, on March 11, 2020.

The lawsuit alleges that “the individual attorney-owners of Gradisar Trechter, a partnership or joint venture, are vicariously liable for the negligent acts and omissions committed by Perko within the course and scope of employment while he worked there as an associate attorney."

Lawsuit outlines claims against Perko

Perko is accused of being negligent by allowing and assisting Hiatt without knowledge or consent of other Crowley County Improvements Co. members when he "executed fraudulent documents purporting” Hiatt purchased $1.2 million worth of property from the company. Perko then allegedly assisted Hiatt in selling the property to a third-party buyer for $1.77 million.

Perko also is accused of preparing quit claim deeds for Hiatt, without the knowledge or consent of the other company members, conveying 11 lots in the Tamarack Sudivision from the company into Hiatt’s personal corporate entity, after which Hiatt allegedly sold three of the lots to third-party buyers for approximately $1.2 million.

The lawsuit alleges that the total $2.97 million in profits from the sales were not shared with the partners but instead pocketed by Hiatt.

Perko is also accused of preparing a “Statement of Authority” document allowing Hiatt to transfer the company’s property without the knowledge or consent of Hiatt’s partners, which was in direct violation of the company’s operating agreement. The suit alleges Perko had prepared the operating agreement for the company in August 2017 and was aware that unanimous consent of the partners was required to transfer property.

The lawsuit goes on to allege that Hiatt, with the assistance of Perko, tapped into the Tamarack Acres water line in order to irrigate lots he owned in the neighboring Maverick and Sherman subdivisions.

“After the water line was installed, the value of each of the 28 lots in the Maverick Subdivision increased by approximately $100,000 or $2.8 million total. However, Hiatt, as the owner of the Maverick Subdivision, never paid Crowley County Improvements Company a tap fee for the water, nor did Perko advise him to do so,” according to the lawsuit.

All of the accusations were revealed in 2020 after one of the members of Crowley County Improvements Co. filed a civil action against the company and Hiatt individually and “for the first time, during the discovery process, the facts came to light,” according to the 2022 lawsuit. As a result, a receiver was appointed to oversee the Crowley County Improvements Co. and that receiver, James Barash, terminated Perko’s services as the company’s attorney on Feb. 24, 2022.

According to the Colorado Supreme Court’s Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel, Perko’s license to practice law is active. The Chieftain reached out to Perko and his attorney, but neither responded to requests for comment.

According to the Perko Law LLC website, Perko is a south side native who returned to Pueblo after obtaining a bachelor's degree at the University of Colorado Boulder and his law degree at the University of Denver.

Perko was appointed last September to the Pueblo School District 60 Board of Education. He has served as general counsel to Pueblo County School District 70, the Pueblo City-County Library District, the Rocky Ford Rural Fire Protection District, and the Towns of Ordway and Olney Springs. Perko also has been "one of the state's first advocates to gain experience representing entrepreneurs of the emerging regulated marijuana market," according to his website.

Attorneys decline to comment on the lawsuit

Roth, who has formed his own law firm, David Roth Law, is the only partner from the former Gradisar, Trechter, Ripperger & Roth law firm with an active license to practice law. The Chieftain reached out to Roth for comment, but did not receive a response.

Gradisar, who was elected mayor in January 2019, was asked to comment on the lawsuit. He told the Chieftain that the lawsuit "happened basically after I left the firm.”

“I don’t think they (other partners) know much about it. The one involved was Tony Perko and I don’t know whether he will have any comment or not, but I don’t have any comment,” Gradisar said.

The Chieftain also reached out to the Gradisar Trechter law firm's attorney Kevin Perez of Denver for comment on the lawsuit, but did not receive a response.

According to the state Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel, Gradisar’s son, Douglas Gradisar was disbarred July 10 due to circumstances unrelated to the civil lawsuit. Douglas Gradisar was ordered to pay $22,500 as restitution to his clients or reimburse the Attorneys’ Fund for Client Protection for any payments made to his clients.

The disbarment order indicated Douglas Gradisar’s restitution is linked to retainers that clients paid him, however, “he did not perform legal services.” The disbarment order also indicates Douglas Gradisar initially was suspended from practicing law July 1, 2021, but performed some legal work during his suspension.

The order also indicates Douglas Gradisar was charged with felony criminal mischief in June 2022 in Pueblo County District Court. He is scheduled to face a motions hearing in that case at 9 a.m. Aug. 11.

A motion to dismiss the civil lawsuit involving Perko and the Gradisar Trechter law firm is expected to be filed by mid-August with the Pueblo District Court and a status conference is scheduled to be held at 1:30 p.m. Oct. 16 via Webex.

The settlement agreement will be filed with the terms of the agreement under seal, according to a court minute order executed by Pueblo District Court Judge Tim O’Shea, who is presiding over the lawsuit.

Chieftain reporter Tracy Harmon covers business news. She can be reached by email at tharmon@chieftain.com or via Twitter at twitter.com/tracywumps.

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This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Pueblo attorney who worked for mayor's lawfirm accused of malpractice