Ramona L. Lampley

Ramona Lampley's national civil litigation practice encompasses a diverse portfolio of complex cases involving commercial matters, construction defect claims, personal injury defense, and class actions. Her clients include institutions in the financial services, technology, automotive, appliance, and construction industries, as well as legal and medical professionals. Her representative cases include commercial contract cases, product liability claims, claims arising under statutory law, negligence and intentional tort claims.  

Ramona developed an expertise in the evidentiary rules related to trial work after teaching courses on evidence and capital punishment at her alma mater, Wake Forest University School of Law, in 2007. This knowledge has proven useful when WTO trial teams, with Ramona as a key member, were asked to handle a number of seemingly untenable trials. Despite being retained on the eve of trial in many instances, these trial teams obtained a defense verdict or a favorable settlement on behalf of the client every time.

Ramona was selected in 2011 as a Colorado Super Lawyers Rising Star and in 2010 as a Law Week Colorado "Up and Coming" Lawyer for her legal excellence and professional and community service. Since 2009, she has served on the Board of Directors of The Gathering Place, Denver's only day-time shelter for women and children experiencing homelessness or poverty, and currently serves as the 2011-2012 Chair.

Ramona's litigation experience includes the following:

• Represented an engineering company in a negligence action involving five deaths and four injuries arising from a construction incident in Georgetown, Colorado. The case involved corollary criminal and administrative actions.
• Represented a Florida hospital and its medical personnel in a complex, multimillion-dollar medical malpractice case in which the plaintiff, a 39-year-old attorney, suffered a stroke and sued the hospital and its employees. Ramona argued jury instructions and dispositive motions in the case. The jury returned a complete defense verdict for WTO's clients.
• Represented a nationally renowned law firm in a legal malpractice action involving the discovery of confidential material that was exchanged in a separate dispute between the law firm and an expert retained in a class action litigation.
• Successfully obtained dismissal on behalf of a major appliance manufacturer on a dispositive motion in a putative national class action involving self-cleaning ovens brought in California.
• Represented the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists in Ford v. Eicher, a seminal case before the Colorado Supreme Court regarding the proper standards for determining admissibility of medical expert testimony. Ramona drafted an amicus curiae brief and argued orally before the Court that medical expert opinions, based on otherwise reliable evidence, should not be excluded simply because they cannot be subject to error-rate analysis. The Court agreed and issued an opinion that represents a landmark victory for practicing obstetricians all over the country.
• Represented a Fortune 100 pharmaceutical corporation in pattern product liability litigation in Colorado federal and state courts.
• Advised a Fortune 500 consumer products company regarding the implementation and enforcement of an arbitration agreement in its product sales agreements. In 2009, Ramona published an article in the Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy regarding the enforcement of consumer-friendly arbitration agreements with class action waivers.

Community Memberships Activities, and Honors
The Gathering Place
    Member, Board of Directors, 2009-present
    Chair, Board of Directors, 2011-2012
Federal Boulevard Partnership
Denver Business Journal, Forty Under 40
    Nominee, 2010

Teaching Positions
Wake Forest University School of Law
    Visiting Professor, 2007-2008

Personal Interests
Financial markets
Tennis
Literature
Theater