Colo. Justices To Weigh Self-Defense In At-Will Firings

May 19, 2025
In the News, Uncategorized

Law360 (May 15, 2025, 6:34 PM EDT) — The Colorado Supreme Court will consider if the state’s at-will employment doctrine has an exception allowing people to challenge their termination for actions taken in self-defense, in the case of a Circle K store clerk who was fired after a confrontation with a robber.

Mary Ann Moreno was fired by Circle K Stores Inc. after she made physical contact with a robber armed with two knives. The clerk claims she was wrongfully terminated in violation of public policy because she was fired for actions that were taken in self-defense, while Circle K argued Moreno can’t bring such a claim because self-defense is “not a clearly expressed public policy” to justify interfering with an employer’s hiring and firing decisions.

U.S. District Court Judge Nina Y. Wang granted summary judgment for Circle K in a January 2024 order, writing that she was “simply not in the position to recognize, in the first instance, a new type of public-policy exception to Colorado’s at- will employment doctrine.” After the Tenth Circuit vacated that order, Judge Wang granted Moreno’s request to ask the state Supreme Court to weigh in.

In an en banc order issued Monday, Colorado justices accepted the question referred by Judge Wang, which asks if state law recognizes “a public-policy exception to the at-will employment doctrine that allows an employee to bring a wrongful termination claim in the event the employee is terminated for actions taken in self-defense.”

Iris Halpern of Rathod Mohamedbhai LLC, counsel for Moreno, said her client spent nearly 16 years working for Circle K and predecessor companies before she was terminated in 2020.

“To be terminated for simply trying to save your own life is a particularly painful blow to her,” Halpern said, adding Moreno is “very excited the Supreme Court is willing to hear her case.”

Halpern said the question is especially important given the “hundreds” of robberies and armed robberies that have occurred at Circle K stores in Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas between 2017 and 2021. In a brief urging Judge Wang to certify the question to the Supreme Court, she said those robberies have resulted in “hundreds of injuries and approximately thirty deaths.”

Halpern also pointed to recent mass shootings in Colorado, including a 2021 shooting at a King Soopers grocery store in Boulder and 2022 shooting at a Colorado Springs LGBTQ club, Club Q.

“We’re seeing an uptick in violence, including in the workplace. So this is really important for workers everywhere to be able to protect themselves when there is an attack at a school, supermarket or club,” she said.

Circle K, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday, contends surveillance video clearly shows Moreno didn’t act in self-defense.

The convenience store company claims Moreno “stepped toward” the robber, pushed him away and “grabbed his arm and pulled him toward her” as he reached to steal cigarettes.

Moreno disputes that account and said in her deposition that the robber moved toward her while holding the knives, that she “put her hands in front of herself” for protection as the robber pushed closer and that she feared for her life.

In urging Judge Wang to grant summary judgment and deny certification to the Supreme Court, Circle K contended not all physical contact can be considered self-defense.

Circle K decision-makers also “honestly believed Moreno did not act in self-defense, so they could not possibly have terminated her because she did so,” according to the brief.

In a May 9 order, Judge Wang declined to grant summary judgment on the question of whether Moreno acted in self- defense, finding a jury should decide that issue.

She also concluded that certifying the question to the Supreme Court would impact the direction of the case.

If the high court finds Colorado doesn’t recognize an exception to the at-will employment doctrine for self-defense, then the district court would likely side with Circle K on the wrongful termination claim, Judge Wang wrote. If the court recognizes such an exception, Moreno’s claim would go before a jury.

Moreno also originally filed her suit in state court, meaning the question “may very well have made its way up to the Colorado Supreme Court” through a different avenue, according to the order.

Moreno is represented by Virginia Hill Butler and Iris Halpern of Rathod Mohamedbhai LLC. Circle K is represented by Thomas W. Carroll and Nicholas Hankins of Littler Mendelson PC.

The case is Mary Ann Moreno v. Circle K Stores Inc., case number 2025SA134, in the Colorado Supreme Court.

–Additional reporting by Daniel Ducassi. Editing by Marygrace Anderson.