Anna N. Martinez

Anna N. Martinez

Starrs Mihm LLP
707 Seventeenth Street, Ste. 2600
Denver, CO 80202
Contact Us

Phone: 303.592.5900
Fax: 303.592.5910

anna.martinez@starrslaw.com
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Education: 
  • University of New Mexico School of Law, J.D., 2005
  • Columbia University, B.A., 2002
Practice Areas: 

Associate, Starrs Mihm LLP

Anna N. Martinez graduated from Columbia University in 2002 with a B.A. degree in Middle East & Asian Languages and Cultures, and a minor in Religion. In 2005, Ms. Martinez received her J.D. from the University of New Mexico School of Law with a certificate in Federal Indian Law. In 2005, she returned home to Colorado to clerk for the Honorable Mary Mullarkey, Chief Justice of the Colorado Supreme Court. She joined Starrs Mihm LLP in September 2006 after completing her clerkship.

Ms. Martinez’s practice includes the areas of legal malpractice, personal injury, wrongful death, and insurance bad faith. Ms. Martinez is admitted to practice in the state courts of New Mexico and Colorado.

In 2009, 2010 and 2011, Ms. Martinez was named as a “Rising Star” by Colorado Super Lawyers®.

Recent Cases and Trials of Note

  • Ms. Martinez represented an insured against his insurance company for its unreasonable investigation of his claim for property theft and damage, and unreasonable denial of this same claim.  The case was originally brought pro se by the client in the small claims court, but was removed by the insurance company to district court through a declaratory judgment action.  Thereafter, Ms. Martinez filed an amended complaint, and a motion for limited discovery, all of which was granted.  A four day jury trial was held in February 2011.  On the last day, the jury came back with a verdict in favor of the insured on both the breach of contract claim and bad faith breach of insurance contract claim.  Chad Milosevich v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., Case No. 2008CV1698 (February 17, 2011).
  • Liz Starrs and Anna Martinez successfully reversed the decision of the Jefferson County Court denying our client’s counterclaims against a collection company for violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, and for costs and fees related to the collection company’s untimely dismissal of its claims against our client.  On remand, the County Court awarded damages, including attorney’s fees and costs, for the company’s violations, and untimely dismissal.  Continental Collection Agency v. Emilona [sic] Webb, Case No. 2008C62112 (December 14, 2010); sub nom Emiliana Webb v. Continental Collection Agency, Case No. 2009CV6155 (July 28, 2010).
  • Taylor Ranch litigation – This historical land rights lawsuit arises from a dispute about access to a historic 77,500 acre tract in Costilla County, Colorado. The land rights originated with the settlement of the Sangre de Cristo Land Grant by Mexican pioneers in the mid-1800s. The pioneers were promised customary communal land rights (i.e., usufructuary rights) in the nearby mountainous region that came to be known as “La Sierra”. The case reached the Colorado Supreme Court three times. Ms. Martinez currently represents some plaintiff landowners seeking to access La Sierra for purposes of exercising the rights outlined in the Colorado Supreme Court decision Lobato v. Taylor, 71 P.3d 938 (Colo. 2002), to graze animals, gather timber, and harvest firewood.
  • Ms. Martinez represented a cattle rancher in eastern Colorado in what began as a minor misdemeanor criminal case in county court, but ended up before the Colorado Supreme Court. Ms. Martinez defended the rancher against animal cruelty and wildlife taking charges when he was accused of killing neighboring dogs after setting out coyote bait on his fenced and posted ranch property in effort to abate coyotes killing his newborn livestock. After Ms. Martinez won a motion to dismiss several of the key charges, the prosecution responded by halting trial and filing an interlocutory appeal. Ms. Martinez subsequently filed a motion to dismiss all charges on the grounds that the statutory speedy trial period had expired. Ms. Martinez ultimately won the case making arguments to the Adams County Court, the Adams County District Court, the Colorado Court of Appeals, and ultimately defeating the petition for a writ of certiorari made to the Colorado Supreme Court. County Court of Adams County, et al. v. Daniel J. Bowen, Case No. 2009-SC-297 (August 31, 2009).

Publications

  • Anna N. Martinez, Annual Supplement, Lawyers' Professional Liability in Colorado, 2nd. Ed.
  • Anna N. Martinez, “Intertribal Conflicts and Customary Law Regimes in North Africa: A Comparison of Haratin and Ait ‘Atta Indigenous Legal Systems,” 5 Tribal Law Journal 2004-05.
Professional Associations and Honors
  • Named a Colorado Super Lawyers®, Rising Stars for 2009, 2010 and 2011
  • Colorado Bar Association
  • Colorado Hispanic Bar Association
  • Colorado Women's Bar Association
  • Colorado LGBT Bar Association
  • New Mexico Bar Association
  • Former Secretary on the Board of Directors for Unidos N Orgullo, a non-profit organization serving the Latino GLBTQ community.

Bar Admissions

  • Colorado
  • New Mexico
  • U.S District Court for the District of Colorado

Contact Anna Martinez