insurance
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Colorado justices ponder whether insurer should save company from asbestos suits
Some members of the Colorado Supreme Court appeared skeptical last week that an insurance policy that reaches beyond the limits and coverage of a company’s other policies must “step down into the shoes” of those policies after they become insolvent. The case reached the Supreme Court in an unusual way, after a federal judge asked…
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July 1 brings new Colorado rules on gun ammo, wildfire-risk scoring, wildlife enforcement
Colorado will usher in a new set of laws on July 1 that affect everything from ammunition sales to insurance transparency and wildlife trafficking enforcement. Here is a look at some of the state’s new laws: Ammunition sales House Bill 25-1133 raises the minimum age to purchase ammunition from 18 to 21 years old. The…
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Colorado justices say insurers may access policyholders’ medical info in denied-benefits litigation
The Colorado Supreme Court declined on Monday to expand its narrow prohibition on insurance companies accessing policyholders’ medical information, clarifying that a dispute over an insurer’s bad-faith decision to deny benefits is the only situation where a company is limited to the information it knew at the time of the decision. In 2018, the Supreme…
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Colorado Supreme Court declines to loosen requirements for insurance company defendants
The Colorado Supreme Court declined last week to reconsider its longstanding expectations for insurance company defendants, and agreed that an insurer failed to properly raise its defenses against a policyholder’s breach-of-contract lawsuit. When an insured driver has an accident with someone who is uninsured, they may obtain benefits under their own insurance policy for the…
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Colorado Supreme Court narrows consumer protection law for insurance claims
The Colorado Supreme Court ruled on Monday that the legislature’s consumer protections requiring insurance companies to take certain steps before they allege a policyholder failed to cooperate do not apply to any obligation specifically laid out in the policy. In 2020, the legislature changed state law to limit insurance companies’ ability to assert a failure-to-cooperate defense when…
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Car rental companies are not ‘insurers,’ Colorado Supreme Court rules
The Colorado Supreme Court decided on Monday that car rental companies offering insurance policies are not also “insurers” under state law, who may be sued for their failure to pay out benefits on claims. By 4-3, the justices further concluded that Hertz Corp. was not a “de facto” insurer simply because it was heavily involved…
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Gov. Polis unveils plan aimed at cutting Colorado home insurance costs by up to $800 a year
Gov. Jared Polis and Division of Insurance Commissioner Mike Conway unveiled a “roadmap” on Thursday that they say will save the average Coloradan $800 a year on homeowner’s insurance. Colorado has some of the highest homeowners’ insurance rates in the country, according to the National Association of Realtors. While premiums nationwide increased by about 58%…
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10th Circuit rules State Farm not required to pay benefits in I‑25 swerving crash
The Denver-based federal appeals court concluded last week that two vehicle occupants who were injured while swerving to avoid a man in the middle of Interstate 25 are not entitled to insurance benefits. Plaintiffs Stephanie Mazur and Julia Wunder were in a vehicle insured by State Farm at the time of their wreck. The insurance…
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Colorado justices agree to review insurance question that has divided federal judges
The Colorado Supreme Court granted a federal judge’s request on Friday to address an issue that has produced conflicting answers in policyholders’ lawsuits against insurance companies over unpaid benefits. “Parties (and judges) regularly spend undue time and money fighting in the pretrial context about a legal question that should be resolved once and for all…
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Appeals court recognizes longer window to sue insurers for withholding policy details
Colorado’s second-highest court split with its own prior decision earlier this month and concluded injured motorists have two years, not one, to sue insurance companies for withholding relevant information about an at-fault driver’s policy. In 2019, Colorado lawmakers enacted a measure to help motorists determine which insurance coverage is available in the event of an injury. To…