District court
Arapahoe County sits in the 18th Judicial District, and its district court is at the Arapahoe County Justice Center, 7325 S. Potomac Street, Centennial, CO 80112.
IT'S MORE THAN MONEY.
Englewood Bad Faith Insurance Lawyers, From the Denial Letter to the Courthouse
You reported the loss, sent what the adjuster asked for, and waited. If your insurer is still stalling, has said no, or wants to pay a fraction of what the policy covers, Colorado law may give you a way to hold it to the contract. Call (303) 209-9395 and tell us what's going on.
No fee unless we win
Or speak with us now
(303) 209-9395
Englewood, Arapahoe County
Why policyholders call us
CGH Injury Lawyers represents Englewood residents against insurers that deny, delay, or underpay claims without a reasonable basis. Your first conversation with us is free, and we do not get paid unless we win.
- 5.0-star Google rating
- ABOTA trial advocate on the team
- Trial-ready, not settlement-shy
- No fee unless we win
5-star rated on Google
ABOTA trial advocate on the team
Trial lawyers, not a settlement mill
8 attorneys, bilingual EN / ES
The kitchen fire was out in minutes, and the insurance claim has now dragged on for months. An Englewood bad faith insurance lawyer can review how your insurer handled that claim and whether it had a sound reason for each delay, denial, or lowball figure.
CGH Injury Lawyers, formerly Cheney Galluzzi & Howard, has worked from Denver since 2016. Call (303) 209-9395 or send a note through our contact page.
What This Page Covers
- How Colorado's two bad faith claims differ, side by side
- The Arapahoe County court and local records tied to an Englewood claim
- The steps we take on a case and what the law lets you seek
- Defenses insurers raise, and the deadlines that apply
Key Takeaways
- The duty runs to you. Chapter 25 of the Colorado Civil Jury Instructions recognize that an insurance company owes the people it insures a duty of good faith and fair dealing.
- "Unreasonable" is the key word. Your insurer can't unreasonably hold up or refuse benefits it owes you as a first-party claimant (C.R.S. 10-3-1115).
- One set of facts, two possible claims. The common-law claim and the statutory claim are separate, and you may be able to bring both.
- The statutory remedy is written into the law. You can seek twice the covered benefit, along with court costs and reasonable attorney fees, under C.R.S. 10-3-1116(1).
- Your clock may already be running. Common-law bad faith generally carries a two-year limit, counted from the point you learned, or reasonably should have learned, what the injury was and what caused it. A lawyer should check the exact date for you.
When an Englewood Claim Stops Moving
You may have a fire report, repair estimates, and a folder of emails, and still no check. Perhaps the adjuster changed twice, or the insurer paid for the drywall and refused the cabinets.
The statute looks for a reasonable basis behind each decision your insurer made. That's the question we put to your file, one step at a time.
Signs worth a call include:
- A denial letter that points to no policy language
- A payment that covers part of the loss with no explanation for the rest
- Repeated requests for records you've already sent
- An adjuster who stops returning calls once you dispute a figure
Common law vs. statute
Common-Law and Statutory Claims Compared
Colorado gives a policyholder two separate routes. Per the jury instructions, the statutory claim stands "in addition to and separate from" the common-law first-party claim.
| Question | Statutory claim | Common-law claim |
|---|---|---|
| Where the rule comes from | Sections 10-3-1115 and 10-3-1116 of the insurance code | Travelers Insurance Co. v. Savio, decided by the Colorado Supreme Court in 1985 |
| What you prove | A covered benefit was delayed or denied with no reasonable basis. | Unreasonable conduct, plus the insurer's knowledge of it or reckless disregard |
| How hard it is | Needs only unreasonable conduct | Harder, because of the added knowledge element |
| Possible recovery | Twice the covered benefit, reasonable attorney fees and court costs | Damages the insurer's conduct caused |
What the statute requires
Under section 10-3-1115(1)(a), an insurer can't unreasonably delay or deny payment of benefits it owes a first-party claimant. Subsection (2) calls a delay or denial unreasonable when the insurer had no "reasonable basis for that action."
A first-party claimant is someone seeking benefits owed under their own policy. The definition excludes people making claims under someone else's liability policy, so a claim against the at-fault driver's insurer generally falls outside it.
Among its other limits, subsections (5) and (6) of C.R.S. 10-3-1115 carve out workers' compensation, title insurance, and life insurance issued under Article 7 of Title 10.
The common-law standard
Under Savio, a policyholder has to prove two things. The insurer must have acted unreasonably, and it must have known that, or recklessly disregarded it, which is why the common-law claim takes more proof than the statutory one.
Local Knowledge
Englewood's Court, Hospital and Local Records
Arapahoe County lists Englewood among its 13 cities and towns. The right court for an insurance lawsuit turns on the facts, such as the places your insurer operates and where you reside.
Hospital records
HCA HealthONE Swedish, at 501 E Hampden Ave in Englewood, is listed as Level I on the state trauma facility list. If an insurer disputes an emergency bill, the chart from that visit can help show what care you needed.
Fire response
The Denver Fire Department says it provides fire and emergency calls to Englewood through contract agreements. The responding department's account can help show what happened when a property insurer questions a fire loss.
An Englewood claim can turn into a dispute in several ways:
- A kitchen fire claim where the estimate leaves out smoke damage in other rooms
- A burst pipe claim denied as wear and tear, with no inspection to back that up
- A stolen car valued well below what comparable vehicles sell for
- A health plan denial after an emergency stay
Why CGH
Why Englewood Clients Work With CGH Injury Lawyers
Cases built for trial
We are ready for every case as if it will be tried. Kevin Cheney, the firm's managing partner, belongs to ABOTA, the American Board of Trial Advocates.
Case review
We go through your policy, the correspondence, and the timeline of the claim.
Our Denver office
We're at 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201, Denver, CO 80205.
Help in Spanish
Spanish speakers can call (303) 835-9177.
How we handle your case
Our Process on an Englewood Bad Faith Case
-
Policy and file review
We go through the coverage, the letters and emails, and the dates each thing happened.
-
Fitting the facts to the law
Your facts may support the common-law claim, the statutory claim, or both.
-
A formal demand
The insurer receives a written demand that lays out what's owed and why.
-
Building the record
We collect claim-file materials and your documents and bring in outside expert input where it helps.
-
Filing in the right court
A likely starting point for Englewood is Arapahoe County's district court, though we check that against your facts before anything is filed.
-
Pursuing the remedies that fit
That can mean the unpaid benefit, statutory damages, and attorney fees where they apply.
Compensation
Money the Law Allows You to Seek
Before we discuss a figure, we go through the policy and the claim file. What the law allows depends on which claim you bring.
Under the statute
Section 10-3-1116(1) lets a first-party claimant whose claim was unreasonably delayed or denied go to district court for "two times the covered benefit," plus court costs and reasonable attorney fees. According to the jury instructions, that award may not be reduced by the amount of an unreasonably delayed benefit the insurer paid before judgment.
Under the common law
Colorado's damages instruction for common-law bad faith covers:
- Physical impairment or disfigurement, if the evidence supports it
- Noneconomic losses or injuries
- Economic losses, past and probable future
Punitive damages can come into play in some cases. Even so, the instructions make clear that proof of bad faith, by itself, isn't enough to support them.
The statutory action also sits alongside other remedies available by statute or common law (C.R.S. 10-3-1116(4)).
Insurer defenses
Defenses Englewood Policyholders Hear
-
"You didn't send what we asked for"
Your insurer can ask for documents it needs. A dated log of everything you sent can help show whether a request was new or a repeat.
-
"The claim was fairly debatable"
Colorado lets an insurer contest a "fairly debatable" claim even if its denial later proves mistaken. That label weighs against bad faith, but the jury instructions say that without more it is "not outcome-determinative." Where the insurer had no reasonable basis, the claim was not fairly debatable at all.
-
"Looking back, we got it right"
An insurer's decision is judged by the information it had when it decided. The jury instructions point to Schultz v. GEICO Casualty Co. on this, and we rebuild the timeline to show what the insurer had in hand on the day it said no.
5-star rated on Google
I wish I could leave more than 5 stars!
Grace Macaluso, 5-star Google review
Deadlines and next steps
Deadlines That Apply in Englewood
Under the jury instructions, common-law bad faith is a tort. C.R.S. 13-80-102 bars it if you wait more than two years from the time you knew, or with reasonable diligence should have known, of both the injury and its cause.
The statutory claim is treated differently. The Colorado Supreme Court's Rooftop Restoration decision holds that a 10-3-1116(1) claim isn't subject to the one-year penalty limit in C.R.S. 13-80-103(1)(d).
Underinsured motorist claims follow their own timing. A bad faith claim for unpaid UIM benefits can't accrue until you've obtained a judgment against, or settled with, the underinsured driver. Because the start date itself can be disputed, ask a lawyer to confirm your deadline.
Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I know if I have a bad faith insurance claim in Colorado?
Start with the reason your insurer gave. Under the statute, a bad faith insurance claim in Colorado turns on whether your own insurer delayed or denied benefits it owed without a reasonable basis (C.R.S. 10-3-1115), and the common-law version also requires knowledge or reckless disregard of that unreasonableness. We can read the letters with you and tell you which claim, if either, fits.
My insurer paid part of the claim. Can I still bring a bad faith case?
Possibly. A partial payment doesn't answer whether the unpaid part was withheld with a reasonable basis. The jury instructions also note that an unreasonably delayed benefit paid before judgment can't be used to reduce the statutory two-times award.
Does the statute cover my claim against the driver who hit me?
Generally not. Claims made against someone else's liability coverage fall outside the statute's definition of a first-party claimant. A claim under your own uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage is different, since that policy covers you.
Which court would hear an Englewood bad faith lawsuit?
It turns on the facts, including the places the insurer operates and your home county. For an Englewood policyholder, one likely court is the district court for Arapahoe County, which sits in the Arapahoe County Justice Center in Centennial.
My health insurer denied a claim. Does bad faith law apply?
It may. A clause in a Colorado-issued health policy that reserves discretion to the insurer to interpret terms or decide eligibility is void (C.R.S. 10-3-1116(2)). If the policy was issued in Colorado and you've exhausted the plan's administrative remedies, you're entitled to de novo review in court and a jury trial (C.R.S. 10-3-1116(3)).
Can I get punitive damages from my insurer?
In some cases. Colorado's jury instructions note that proof of bad faith alone doesn't establish a punitive damages claim, so more has to be shown.
What should I keep while my Englewood claim is in dispute?
Keep the full policy, every letter and email from the insurer, and photos of the damage or injury. A simple log of each call, with the date and the adjuster's name, helps us build the timeline later.
Is CGH Injury Lawyers located in Englewood?
No. Our office is in Denver at 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201, Denver, CO 80205, and we work with Englewood clients from there. Call (303) 209-9395 to reach us.
Keep Reading
Related pages
It's More Than Money.
Speak With an Englewood Bad Faith Insurance Attorney
Call (303) 209-9395 or reach us through our contact page if your insurer has gone quiet, refused the claim, or offered less than the policy covers. A bad-faith insurance attorney can go through the file with you.
Our Colorado bad faith insurance lawyer page explains these claims statewide, and our Denver bad faith insurance lawyer page covers our home city. If a crash started your claim, see the Englewood uninsured motorist lawyer and Englewood car accident lawyer pages, or visit Englewood personal injury lawyers for other injury cases.
Prefer to read first? See how Colorado bad faith law works.
CGH Injury Lawyers · 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201, Denver, CO 80205
Cheney Galluzzi & Howard, LLC, d/b/a CGH Injury Lawyers. Attorney advertising. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Every case turns on its own facts, injuries, and available insurance coverage. This site is for general information and is not legal advice. Reading this page does not create an attorney-client relationship.