Emery v. Khumo Developments - Forcible Entry and Detainer Action
Summary
The Colorado Court of Appeals affirmed a district court's judgment in a forcible entry and detainer action, ruling in favor of Khumo Developments LLC. The court found that Kendal R. Emery unlawfully detained the property after a foreclosure sale. The opinion addresses Emery's procedural arguments on appeal.
What changed
The Colorado Court of Appeals issued a non-precedential opinion in Emery v. Khumo Developments, affirming a lower court's judgment in a forcible entry and detainer (FED) action. The case involved a defendant, Kendal R. Emery, who defaulted on a residential property loan, leading to a foreclosure sale where Khumo Developments LLC purchased the deed. Emery continued to occupy the property, prompting Khumo to file an FED action. The appellate court addressed Emery's claims regarding the district court's handling of his third-party complaint against the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority and the issuance of a writ of restitution.
This ruling affirms the lower court's decision and the subsequent removal of Emery from the property. For legal professionals and courts involved in similar real estate disputes, this case reinforces the legal framework for FED actions following foreclosure sales. While this is a non-precedential opinion, it provides clarity on procedural aspects and the affirmation of possession judgments. No specific compliance actions are required for regulated entities beyond understanding the outcome of this specific case.
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March 12, 2026 Get Citation Alerts Download PDF Add Note
Emery v. Khumo Developments
Colorado Court of Appeals
- Citations: None known
- Docket Number: 25CA0596
Precedential Status: Non-Precedential
Combined Opinion
25CA0596 Emery v Khumo Developments 03-12-2026
COLORADO COURT OF APPEALS
Court of Appeals No. 25CA0596
Arapahoe County District Court No. 25CV70
Honorable Benjamin Figa, Judge
Khumo Developments LLC.,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
Kendal R. Emery,
Defendant-Appellant.
JUDGMENT AFFIRMED
Division II
Opinion by JUDGE KUHN
Fox and Sullivan, JJ., concur
NOT PUBLISHED PURSUANT TO C.A.R. 35(e)
Announced March 12, 2026
Robinson & Henry, P.C., Todd A. Weaver, Sidney T. Billings, Colorado Springs,
Colorado, for Plaintiff-Appellee
Kendal R. Emery, Pro Se
¶1 In this forcible entry and detainer (FED) action, defendant,
Kendal R. Emery, appeals the district court’s judgment in favor of
plaintiff, Khumo Developments LLC. We affirm.
I. Background
¶2 Emery defaulted on his residential property loan. As a result,
Khumo purchased the deed to the property at a public trustee’s
foreclosure sale. Emery continued to occupy the property and
refused to vacate it.
¶3 Khumo eventually brought this FED action in county court,
claiming that Emery had committed an unlawful detention by
failing to surrender possession of the property. See §§ 13-40-101
to -128, C.R.S. 2025. Emery contested the action pro se.
¶4 The case was transferred to district court, which scheduled an
FED hearing. Before the hearing, Emery filed a third-party
complaint against the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority
(CHFA), claiming that the CHFA failed to provide the financial
assistance that Emery needed to cure his default.1 The third-party
1 In the county court, Emery filed an initial answer that did not
mention the CHFA. After the transfer to district court, he
separately filed his third-party complaint against the CHFA.
1
complaint included a request to join the CHFA to the action
involving Khumo, although Emery never served the complaint.
¶5 At the FED hearing, the district court found that Emery had
committed an unlawful detention, and the court entered judgment
of possession in favor of Khumo. Following the judgment, the court
granted Emery permission to join the CHFA to the action. The
court then issued a writ of restitution.
¶6 Emery then appealed, and the district court stayed execution
on the writ of restitution. But Emery didn’t post a $20,000 cash or
surety supersedeas bond required to maintain the stay during the
pendency of his appeal. Emery has since been removed from the
property.
II. Analysis
¶7 On appeal, Emery claims that the district court erred by not
(1) ruling on his requests to join the CHFA; (2) addressing his third-
party complaint before ruling on possession; and (3) granting his
motion to waive the supersedeas bond. We address each issue in
turn.
2
A. The District Court Granted the Motion to Join
¶8 As an initial matter, we decline to consider Emery’s contention
that the district court failed to rule on his request to join the CHFA.
This is because the record clearly indicates that at the FED hearing
the district court ordered that Emery could “go ahead and join [the
CHFA] to the action.”2
¶9 Consequently, Emery has no grounds on which to appeal the
district court’s order because the court granted him the joinder that
he requested, see Schnelle v. Cantafio, 2024 COA 17, ¶ 29 (noting a
party has no basis to appeal without an adverse ruling), aff’d, 2025
CO 39, and Emery didn’t raise any objections to the court’s ruling,
see Deason v. Lewis, 706 P.2d 1283, 1286 (Colo. App. 1985) (Where
“a party consents to entry of an order or judgment, and such
consent is regularly obtained, that party has no right to appeal from
the order or judgment.”).
2 On appeal Emery repeatedly cites Romero v. City of Fountain, 307
P.3d 120, 125 (Colo. App. 2011), claiming that a division of this
court “held unequivocally: ‘A court must rule on all motions that
are properly before it. It cannot simply ignore a motion.’” We don’t
take issue with this general notion. See Hudak v. Med. Lien Mgmt.,
Inc., 2013 COA 83, ¶ 16. But we note that Romero contains no
such quoted language — nor does any other case we are aware of.
3
¶ 10 Because Emery is pro se, we interpret his pleadings and
motions liberally. See Adams Cnty. Hous. Auth. v. Panzlau, 2022
COA 148, ¶ 8. However, we won’t rewrite his pleadings or act as an
advocate on his behalf. See Johnson v. McGrath, 2024 COA 5, ¶ 10.
To the extent Emery argues that the court should have stayed the
proceedings to grant joinder and address the third-party complaint
on the merits, we address that contention next.
B. Third-Party Complaint
¶ 11 Emery contends that the district court erred by entering
judgment on possession without first addressing his third-party
complaint against the CHFA. He argues that his third-party
complaint contests whether the CHFA tainted the foreclosure by
failing to provide Emery with financial assistance to cure his
default. Thus, he argues, the court needed to address the third-
party complaint first because the complaint could undermine the
foreclosure sale, which in turn would negate Khumo’s standing to
bring the FED action. We disagree.
- Additional Facts
¶ 12 After purchasing the property at the foreclosure sale, Khumo
permitted Emery to temporarily occupy the property under an
4
occupancy termination agreement the parties entered into. The
agreement included a provision stating that “in signing this
[a]greement, [Emery] waives any claim to possession of the
[p]remises after the [s]urrender [d]ate.”3
¶ 13 At the FED hearing, Khumo proved that it had purchased the
property and received a confirmation deed from the public trustee,
provided Emery with a proper demand for possession, and entered
into the occupancy termination agreement with Emery. Emery also
conceded that Khumo had purchased the property.
¶ 14 The court found that Emery had unlawfully occupied the
property and granted judgment of possession in favor of Khumo.
The court then recognized Emery’s third-party complaint and
permitted Emery to join the CHFA to address damages. However,
3 The surrender date was January 23, 2025, at 11:59 p.m. Khumo
filed its complaint on February 20, 2025, and the FED hearing took
place on March 26, 2025.
5
the court clarified that the judgment of possession was final and
immediately appealable.4
- The District Court Properly Ruled on the FED Claim
¶ 15 For FED actions, we review factual findings for clear error and
the district court’s legal conclusions de novo. Fear v. GEICO Cas.
Co., 2024 CO 77, ¶ 15. We will not set aside the district court’s
factual findings as clearly erroneous unless they have no support in
the record. People in Interest of A.M. v. T.M., 2021 CO 14, ¶ 15.
¶ 16 It is true that typically when an FED action involves multiple
claims, the district court must determine any ownership issues in
4 A district court ordinarily must certify an FED possession claim
under C.R.C.P. 54(b) in order for that claim to become final and
appealable while other claims remain pending. See Sun Valley Dev.
Co. v. Paradise Valley Country Club, 663 P.2d 628, 628-29 (Colo.
App. 1983); see also Corporon v. Safeway Stores, Inc., 708 P.2d
1385, 1388 (Colo. App. 1985) (“[A] forcible entry and detainer action
has been held to be a separate claim from the claim of damages and
possession and, therefore, appealable under proper certification.”
(emphasis added)). However, because Emery has not served the
CHFA, we don’t consider the CHFA for determining the finality of
the claim, even though the district court here did not provide a Rule
54(b) certification. See Rea v. Corr. Corp. of Am., 2012 COA 11,
¶ 13 (“[N]amed but unserved defendants are not litigants for
purposes of determining the appealability of an order under the
final judgment rule.”); Menu v. Minor, 745 P.2d 680, 681 (Colo. App.
1987) (“[T]he question of claims pending against [unserved]
defendants cannot properly be considered by us in [an] appeal.”).
6
order to rule on possession if ownership affects the right to
possession. See Beeghly v. Mack, 20 P.3d 610, 615 (Colo. 2001)
(holding that when the issue of ownership is raised in an FED
action and affects the right to possession, the court must determine
ownership rights in conjunction with the issue of possession);
Schuler v. Oldervik, 143 P.3d 1197, 1200 (Colo. App. 2006) (holding
that the district court may properly determine title to property
within an FED proceeding).
¶ 17 But here, Emery agreed in the occupancy termination
agreement that Khumo purchased the property legally, and he
waived any claim to possession. Further, the record unequivocally
supports the district court’s findings that Khumo had perfected title
to the property and demanded possession. See § 13-40-104(1)(f),
C.R.S. 2025. Therefore, the court did not need to rule on the third-
party complaint before addressing possession because — whatever
the third-party complaint alleged — the record supports that at the
time of the FED hearing Khumo had established the right to
possession, and Emery had waived the right to contest possession
regardless.
7
¶ 18 Even were we to overlook the occupancy termination
agreement, Emery’s third-party complaint implicitly admits that
Emery did in fact default on the loan because it claims that the
CHFA’s representative didn’t provide financial assistance to help
cure the default after it had occurred. Thus, the third-party
complaint doesn’t call into question the facts that Emery defaulted
or that Khumo legally purchased the property at the foreclosure
sale.
¶ 19 Therefore, as the third-party complaint against the CHFA had
no bearing on Khumo’s right to possession and the court had no
personal jurisdiction over CHFA due to lack of service, see
§ 13-40-115(2), C.R.S. 2025; Sebastian Holdings, Inc. v. Johansson,
2025 COA 60, ¶ 17, the court did not err by not immediately
addressing the third-party complaint or staying the proceedings.5
5 While Emery never effected service — despite the district court’s
explicit instructions to do so — we see no indication that the
district court has provided notice of failure to prosecute or
dismissed the claim in the third-party complaint. See C.R.C.P.
4(m); C.R.C.P. 121, § 1-10(2); Curry v. Zag Built LLC, 2018 COA 66,
¶ 37.
8
C. Supersedeas Bond
¶ 20 Emery contends that the district court erred by denying his
motion to waive the $20,000 supersedeas bond, which the court
required as a condition for Emery to maintain the stay of the writ of
restitution pending this appeal. Emery asserts that the court failed
to rule on the motion or, alternatively, that the court should have
granted the waiver because supersedeas bonds are not required
when judgments have no monetary damages or the enforcement of
the judgment would cause irreparable harm.6 We are not
convinced.
- Standard of Review and Applicable Law
¶ 21 C.R.C.P. 62(d) states, “When an appeal is taken the appellant
by giving a supersedeas bond may obtain a stay from the [district]
court . . . .” The purpose of the supersedeas bond is to “serve an
important role in protecting an appellee’s judgment on appeal.”
Holt Grp., L.L.C. v. Kellum, 260 P.3d 50, 53 (Colo. App. 2010).
6 Although we can’t determine the precise status from the record,
Khumo asserts that the writ of restitution has already been effected.
We nonetheless consider Emery’s contention because it is an issue
that is capable of repetition yet evading review. See Taxpayers
Against Congestion v. Reg’l Transp. Dist., 140 P.3d 343, 346 (Colo.
App. 2006).
9
¶ 22 A district court has discretion over issuing a supersedeas bond
and setting the bond amount. See Hart v. Schwab, 990 P.2d 1131,
1133 (Colo. App. 1999) (“Determination of the amount and form of a
supersedeas bond rests in the [district] court’s broad discretion.”);
see also Beeghly, 20 P.3d at 613-14 (noting district court has
discretion to set delay bonds in FED proceedings). A district court
“abuses its discretion when it misapplies the law or when its ruling
is manifestly arbitrary, unreasonable, or unfair.” Terra Mgmt. Grp.,
LLC v. Keaten, 2025 CO 40, ¶ 28.
¶ 23 Although it affords district courts broad discretion, Rule 62(d)
strongly implies that a court should require a full supersedeas bond
before staying an execution of a judgment. See Muck v. Arapahoe
Cnty. Dist. Ct., 814 P.2d 869, 872-73 (Colo. 1991); Hart, 990 P.2d at
1133-34 (“[A] full supersedeas bond should be the requirement in
normal circumstances . . . .” (quoting Fed. Prescription Serv., Inc. v.
Am. Pharm. Ass’n, 636 F.2d 755, 760 (D.C. Cir. 1980))). And a
supersedeas bond is not a requirement for filing an appeal. Colo.
Korean Ass’n v. Korean Senior Ass’n of Colo., 151 P.3d 626, 628
(Colo. App. 2006).
10
2. The District Court Was Not Required
to Waive the Supersedeas Bond
¶ 24 First, contrary to Emery’s assertion, the record shows that the
district court ruled on Emery’s request for waiver by summarily
denying it.
¶ 25 Next, Emery cites Zappa v. Seiver, 706 P.2d 440 (Colo. App.
1985), and Muck, 814 P.2d at 871-73, for the propositions that a
district court should waive a supersedeas bond when there is a
nonmonetary judgment or the appellant claims irreparable harm.
However, these cases do not stand for such propositions. See
Zappa, 706 P.2d at 441-42 (addressing summary judgment for a
tortious interference with a contract claim without mentioning
supersedeas bonds); Muck, 814 P.2d at 873 (holding that the
district court erred by not requiring a supersedeas bond before
staying the proceedings). Accordingly, given that Rule 62(d) favors
courts requiring supersedeas bonds — and Khumo had an interest
in protecting its possession of the property that it purchased for
$214,000 — the court did not act arbitrarily, unfairly, or
unreasonably by denying the request to waive the $20,000
supersedeas bond. See Kellum, 260 P.3d at 53; Keaten, ¶ 28.
11
¶ 26 Lastly, Emery makes a conclusory assertion that he was
denied his right to appellate review due to the district court’s
rulings and because a motions division of this court denied his
motion to stay the writ of restitution or waive the supersedeas
bond. To be sure, Emery was not denied his right to appellate
review because the supersedeas bond determined only the stay of
the writ of restitution. Cf. Colo. Korean Ass’n, 151 P.3d at 628 (“[A
supersedeas bond] is not a prerequisite for filing and pursuing an
appeal.”). Under these circumstances, we decline to revisit the
motions division’s decisions in this case. See People v. Smoots,
2013 COA 152, ¶ 20 (holding that although one division is not
bound by holdings of another division, “we give [prior] decisions
considerable deference”), aff’d sub nom., Reyna-Abarca v. People,
III. Disposition
¶ 27 The judgment of the district court is affirmed.
JUDGE FOX and JUDGE SULLIVAN concur.
12
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