Colorado’s second-highest court reinstated a lawyer’s discrimination claim earlier this month against Colorado’s attorney regulation office, based upon its alleged failure to accommodate his disability during the bar exam.

Michael Ozborn, a University of Denver law graduate, sued the Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel in June 2024. He alleged that he had multiple diagnoses that qualified him as a person with a disability, and DU accommodated him accordingly during his schooling.

Ozborn had applied to OARC for disability accommodations on the July bar exam, seeking extra time, breaks, and a distraction-free environment. OARC denied the request. Ozborn appealed, but OARC once again denied the request for accommodations.

After he filed suit, OARC reversed itself and largely granted his request. By that time, Ozborn was “in a diminished emotional state” from the accommodations process and felt unprepared to sit for the July exam. He ultimately took the bar exam in February 2025 and passed it.

In late 2024, OARC moved to dismiss Ozborn’s lawsuit, which he had amended in September to include two more claims under the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act: retaliation and future discrimination, in addition to his existing disability discrimination claim.

Denver District Court Judge J. Eric Elliff dismissed the lawsuit. Ozborn’s original complaint was “filed upon the denial of his accommodations,” Elliff wrote, but OARC ultimately gave Ozborn the accommodations he was seeking.

“Plaintiff’s frustration is understandable as he only received his accommodations after filing this action,” added Elliff, but Ozborn had not experienced an injury at the time he filed his amended complaint.

A three-judge Court of Appeals panel disagreed with Elliff’s analysis.

“When Ozborn filed the original complaint, he alleged that he was entitled to accommodations and had been denied those accommodations in violation of CADA,” wrote Judge Jaclyn Casey Brown in the May 7 opinion. The existence of an amended complaint “does not mean we reassess standing as of the date of the later complaint.”

At the time of his original filing, Ozborn “plainly stated a claim for discrimination,” Brown continued. Moreover, Ozborn sought the penalties established by state law, as well as damages for the alleged violation, not simply a court order requiring OARC to accommodate him.

While it was no longer necessary to order OARC to approve any accommodations, “we fail to see, and OARC does not explain, why the other requested forms of relief cannot be afforded if Ozborn is able to prove the wrongful denial of his request for accommodations and his resulting damages,” Brown wrote.

She added that it was not clear that Ozborn’s refusal to accept OARC’s eventual accommodations doomed his claim, as Ozborn had alleged the process left him unprepared to take the July 2024 exam.

The panel declined to reinstate Ozborn’s remaining claims of retaliation and future discrimination. Brown noted that OARC accommodated Ozborn on the February 2025 exam without incident.

OARC had no comment on the decision.

“We believe the decision reinforces that public entities cannot avoid judicial review of discrimination by changing course after a lawsuit is filed,” said attorney Spencer Kontnik, who represents Ozborn. “This case has always been about ensuring that qualified individuals with disabilities receive fair and lawful consideration of accommodation requests, particularly in the context of high-stakes professional licensing examinations.”

The Colorado Supreme Court adopted new rules in March 2025 governing accommodations for the bar exam, despite criticism about the level of proof applicants would still need to provide for their disability. At the time, Kontnik told Colorado Politics that the rules were “a step in the right direction,” but they did not change attorney regulators’ ability to rely on their own experts to deny accommodations.

“This rule change won’t have much of an impact in these cases,” he said.

The case is Ozborn v. Colorado Supreme Court Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel.