Willis v. Twin Shores Master Owner Ass’n.
2025 COA 37. No. 24CA0369. Torts—Common Interest Community Association—Colorado Premises Liability Act—Injured Party’s Status as Invitee Versus Licensee—Summary Judgment.
April 3, 2025
Twin Shores is a planned community under the Colorado Common Interest Ownership Act (CCIOA). Twin Shores Master Owners Association, Inc. is the unit owners’ association (association), and Hammersmith Management, Inc. is its management company (collectively, defendants). Willis was in a long-term romantic relationship with a Twin Shores townhome owner. Willis wasn’t on the unit’s title but alleges that she resided there with her partner, paid for unit upkeep and upgrades, participated as the unit’s representative in the association, paid the unit’s association dues at least once, and served as vice president of the association’s board of directors. Willis filed an action under the Colorado Premises Liability Act (PLA) alleging that she suffered significant injuries when she slipped and fell while walking on an icy sidewalk adjacent to the common area and residences. On motions filed early in the case, the district court determined that when Willis was injured, she wasn’t in a mutually beneficial financial relationship with defendants and therefore was a licensee under the PLA. Based on that ruling, the court precluded Willis from obtaining discovery that the court found irrelevant due to her status as a licensee. The court then granted summary judgment in favor of defendants, concluding that Willis hadn’t presented sufficient evidence to satisfy her burden as a licensee of showing that defendants had actual knowledge of the alleged dangerous condition before her fall.
On appeal, Willis contended that the district court erred by ruling as a matter of law that she was a licensee under the PLA. Colorado courts treat a tenant’s guests as a landlord’s invitees in their use of common areas controlled by the landlord. And in Trailside Townhome Ass’n v. Acierno, 880 P.2d 1197, 1203 (Colo. 1994), the Colorado Supreme Court recognized that an association’s control over common elements that owners use is “analogous” to a landlord’s control over common areas used by tenants. The court of appeals concluded that with respect to a common interest community association, a unit owner’s guest is an invitee under the PLA. It is undisputed that Willis was, at a minimum, a unit owner’s guest, so if Willis was injured in an area that was part of the common elements owned and controlled by the association, she was defendants’ invitee. Here, however, the parties contest where the accident occurred, including potentially on property that the association did not own and control. Accordingly, there is a genuine dispute of material fact about whether Willis was a licensee or an invitee of defendants, rendering summary judgment inappropriate. The district court thus erred.
The judgment was reversed and the case was remanded for further proceedings.