ENGLEWOO – The Denver Broncos ownership trial that was supposed to begin next month has been pushed back to next year because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The trial was scheduled to begin Sept. 1 via videoconference in front of Arapahoe County Court Judge John E. Scipione.
It’s now expected to be held in Scipione’s courtroom the first half of next year providing the COVID-19 crisis abates.
The case pits the two eldest daughters of late owner Pat Bowlen and the trio of trustees who have run the team for the last seven years.
The trust was empowered in 2009 to designate Bowlen’s successor upon his death or incapacity.
Bowlen stepped down in 2013 because of Alzheimer’s and he died last year a few weeks before of his induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Bowlen’s two eldest daughters from his first marriage – Beth Bowlen Wallace, 49, and Amie Klemmer, 51 – along with their uncle, Bill Bowlen, have contended in court documents that Pat Bowlen was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s long before he signed his updated trust in 2009 and they want the trustees removed.
The trustees – team president/CEO Joe Ellis, team counsel Rich Slivka and Denver attorney Mary Kelly – and the lawyer who prepared Pat Bowlen’s estate plan have said in response that Pat Bowlen knew what he was doing when he signed the documents in 2009.
