What Is the 2 Blondes Rescue Lawsuit?
The 2 Blondes Rescue lawsuit is a pattern of breach-of-contract suits in which a Colorado dog rescue, 2 Blondes All Breed Rescue, sues former adopters who surrendered dogs to other shelters. The rescue is the plaintiff, not the defendant.
9NEWS in Denver reported in February 2026 that court records showed at least 30 such suits between 2020 and 2024. Each suit is a separate civil case against one adopter.
Search results for the name also surface unrelated rescue disputes, including a Los Angeles city attorney case against a different group. That case has no connection to this one and is separated in the comparison section below.
Why Was the 2 Blondes Rescue Lawsuit Filed?
The 2 Blondes Rescue lawsuits were filed because the rescue says adopters broke the return clause in its adoption agreement. The clause requires an adopter who cannot keep a dog to give it back to 2 Blondes and to no one else.
The rescue stays listed as a contact on the dog's microchip, so a shelter that scans a surrendered dog can notify it. 9NEWS reported that adopters were sued after surrendering dogs elsewhere, in some cases about two years later.
In a statement quoted by 9NEWS, the rescue said it keeps rigorous adoption standards and uses written agreements so dogs come back to it. It described violations as unfortunate but rare. One search extraction of the report adds that the rescue put legal action at about 0.2 percent of adoptions since 2015, a figure not confirmed against the rescue's own records.
What Harms Does the 2 Blondes Rescue Lawsuit Allege?
The 2 Blondes Rescue lawsuits involve three distinct kinds of harm that former adopters describe. They are a breach-of-contract claim, a contractual penalty, and the cost of defending or settling a suit.
Breach of Contract Claim
A breach of contract claim is a legal claim that one party failed to do something a signed agreement required.
Each suit alleges that an adopter breached the adoption agreement by surrendering a dog somewhere other than 2 Blondes. In Cody Backer's case, the claim was that his dog, Reba, had to be returned to the rescue and no one else.
Animal attorney Kristina Bergsten told 9NEWS the clause is not illegal. Whether a particular clause is enforceable against a particular adopter is a question for a court.
Contractual Penalty
A contractual penalty is a fixed sum that an agreement says one party owes if it breaks a term.
A summary of the 9NEWS report says its legal analyst compared a $5,000 penalty in the agreement with a $475 adoption fee and called the terms punitive. One search extraction of the same report gives the penalty as $5,500, so the exact figure should be checked against the original agreement.
Whether a court would enforce a fixed sum that exceeds the adoption fee by that margin depends on the contract and the law of the court hearing the case.
Settlement and Legal Costs
Settlement and legal costs are the money and time a person spends to resolve a lawsuit, whether by agreeing to a payment or by defending the case.
Backer was unemployed during his case and settled. He says he still pays the rescue $5,000 in installments.
Colleen Eager, a single mother at the time, represented herself for nearly a year and reportedly owed no legal fees after a judge ruled for her. Both described the process itself as a heavy burden.
What Is the Current Status of the 2 Blondes Rescue Lawsuit?
The current status of the 2 Blondes Rescue lawsuit is that no single docket exists, because the pattern is made up of separate individual cases that 9NEWS counted from court records. No court name, case number, class certification or consolidation was located in the sources reviewed as of November 6, 2026, and the court's own docket was not available to this review.
Individual Suits by 2 Blondes All Breed Rescue
The suits are individual civil cases, each pairing the rescue against one former adopter. The table lists what the sources reviewed actually establish and marks what they do not.
| Court | Not identified in the sources reviewed |
| Case Numbers | Not located |
| Plaintiff | 2 Blondes All Breed Rescue, a Colorado dog rescue |
| Defendants | At least 30 former adopters, two named in coverage: Cody Backer and Colleen Eager |
| Claim | Breach of the adoption agreement's return-to-rescue clause |
| Filing Window | 2020 to 2024, per 9NEWS review of court records |
| Relief Sought | Money damages under the agreement, reported as a contractual penalty |
| Class Action or MDL | No |
| Status | Individual cases; no consolidated proceeding located as of Nov. 6, 2026 |
A state agency that oversees rescues has no say over how adoption agreements are written, according to the 9NEWS report. Disputes over the contract therefore run through civil court rather than a regulatory process.
How Much Has the 2 Blondes Rescue Lawsuit Cost Former Adopters?
The only publicly reported dollar outcome in the 2 Blondes Rescue lawsuits is a $5,000 settlement that Cody Backer reached and says he is still paying in installments. No total across the suits has been reported.
There is no settlement fund, because the cases are separate and not a class action. What any adopter owes depends on the individual agreement, the facts and the court, and only a qualified attorney reviewing the contract can say what a particular claim might be worth.
Colleen Eager reached the opposite result. She fought the suit without a lawyer, and a judge ruled in her favor, so she did not pay the rescue's legal fees.
Those two outcomes are the only ones in the sources reviewed, so they do not show a typical result. The other suits among the 30 reported have no published outcome.
2 Blondes Rescue Lawsuit Updates and Case Status
2 Blondes Rescue lawsuit updates are limited to what the 9NEWS report and later coverage describe, because no court docket for the suits was located. Each entry names the proceeding it concerns and is listed in date order, with no class action, consolidation or new ruling reported as of November 6, 2026.
2 Blondes Rescue Lawsuit Timeline of Events
2 Blondes All Breed Rescue Is Founded
2 Blondes All Breed Rescue was founded in 2015, according to the rescue's statement as summarized from the 9NEWS report. The rescue places dogs of many breeds with adopters in Colorado under written adoption agreements.
The Rescue Begins Filing Breach-of-Contract Suits
The window in which 2 Blondes All Breed Rescue filed the at least 30 breach-of-contract suits counted by 9NEWS opens in 2020. The count comes from the outlet's review of court records, and the individual filing dates were not published.
Cody Backer Surrenders His Dog Reba to Humane Colorado
Cody Backer surrendered his dog Reba to Humane Colorado in early 2022 after the dog attacked another dog and a veterinarian advised surrender, according to a secondary summary of the report. The adoption agreement required a return to 2 Blondes only.
The Filing Window Closes and Backer Is Served
The window for the at least 30 suits closes in 2024, and Backer says he was served with a suit two years to the week after he surrendered Reba. He later settled for $5,000 and says he is still paying it.
Colleen Eager Defends Herself and Wins
Colleen Eager, sued after surrendering her dog Ace to a shelter, represented herself for nearly a year in the suit the rescue brought against her. A judge ruled in her favor, and she did not have to pay the rescue's legal fees. The year of the ruling was not stated in the sources reviewed, so it is placed with the filing window.
9NEWS Publishes Its Investigation
9NEWS in Denver published reporter Jeremy Jojola's investigation into the 2 Blondes All Breed Rescue suits in February 2026, and the Denver Gazette republished it on February 19, 2026. The report counted at least 30 suits, quoted animal attorney Kristina Bergsten and included a statement from the rescue.
No Class Action, Consolidation or New Ruling Reported
As of November 6, 2026, no class action, consolidated proceeding, new ruling or published docket for the 2 Blondes All Breed Rescue suits had been located in the sources reviewed. Anyone relying on the page should check current court records directly.
What Evidence Matters in the 2 Blondes Rescue Lawsuit?
The evidence that matters in the 2 Blondes Rescue lawsuit is the signed adoption agreement and proof of where the dog went after the surrender. The agreement shows what the return clause required, and the surrender record shows what the adopter did.
The microchip registration matters because it is how the rescue says it learned of surrenders. Records of why the dog was surrendered, such as veterinary notes or incident reports, may matter if an adopter argues the circumstances excused the breach.
Whether any of that evidence defeats a claim depends on the court, and no ruling in these suits explains how it was weighed. Only a qualified attorney can assess a specific agreement.
Who Are the Parties in the 2 Blondes Rescue Lawsuit?
The main party in the 2 Blondes Rescue lawsuit is 2 Blondes All Breed Rescue, the plaintiff, and the defendants are individual former adopters. The table lists each named person or group and what the coverage says about them.
| Party | Role | What Has Been Reported |
|---|---|---|
| 2 Blondes All Breed Rescue | Plaintiff in each suit | Said its agreements protect dogs and that legal action is rare |
| Cody Backer | Former adopter, defendant | Settled for $5,000 and is paying in installments |
| Colleen Eager | Former adopter, defendant | Represented herself and won a ruling, no legal fees owed |
| Kristina Bergsten | Animal attorney, not a party | Called the contract harsh and legal, practices animal law about 13 years |
| Whitney Traylor | 9NEWS legal analyst, not a party | Compared the penalty with the $475 adoption fee and called it punitive |
These are the claims of the parties and commentators as reported. No court finding about the rescue's conduct generally has been published in the sources reviewed.
How Does the 2 Blondes Rescue Lawsuit Compare to Other Rescue Lawsuits?
The 2 Blondes Rescue lawsuit is different from other rescue disputes that appear in search results for the same name. The table separates them by what each one is.
| Dispute | Type | Same Case? |
|---|---|---|
| Individual breach-of-contract suits by 2 Blondes All Breed Rescue against former adopters | Many separate civil suits, rescue as plaintiff | This lawsuit |
| Los Angeles city attorney action against Wagmor Pets and its founder | Government civil action alleging buying and reselling dogs as rescues, seeking penalties and restitution | No, a different organization in California |
| Third-party explainer pages that call it a Denver case | Secondary summaries of the 9NEWS report | Same facts, but the court and location were not verified |
Only the first row is the case this page tracks. The Wagmor action was identified through news search results and is listed only so readers can tell the two apart.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the 2 Blondes Rescue lawsuit about?
The 2 Blondes Rescue lawsuit is about breach-of-contract suits that 2 Blondes All Breed Rescue filed against former adopters who surrendered dogs elsewhere. 9NEWS reported at least 30 such suits between 2020 and 2024.
Is the 2 Blondes Rescue lawsuit a class action or MDL?
No. The 2 Blondes Rescue lawsuit is neither a class action nor an MDL. It is a set of separate civil cases, and no consolidated proceeding was located.
What is the current status of the 2 Blondes Rescue lawsuit?
The current status of the 2 Blondes Rescue lawsuit is that individual cases exist, with no class action or consolidation reported as of November 6, 2026. Court records are the only way to confirm the status of a given case.
Did 2 Blondes Rescue settle the lawsuits?
There is no single settlement, because the suits are separate cases. The only reported outcome is that Cody Backer settled for $5,000 and still pays it, while Colleen Eager won a ruling and owed no legal fees.
Can a rescue sue you for surrendering a dog?
A rescue can sue an adopter for surrendering a dog if the adoption agreement requires a return to that rescue and the adopter breaks the term. Attorney Kristina Bergsten told 9NEWS the clause is not illegal, though she found it unusually harsh, and enforceability depends on the contract and the court.
Why is 2 Blondes Rescue on the microchip of adopted dogs?
2 Blondes Rescue stays listed as a contact on the microchip of its adopted dogs, according to 9NEWS. A shelter that scans a surrendered dog can then notify the rescue, which is how the rescue says it learns of surrenders elsewhere.