Boulder County
Boulder County is in the 20th Judicial District, and the Boulder County Combined Court is at 1777 6th St., Boulder, CO 80302.
IT'S MORE THAN MONEY.
Erie Bad Faith Insurance Lawyers for a Roof Patch That Should Have Been a Replacement
Insurance is a promise you've been paying for. If your insurer is breaking it by stalling, refusing, or paying too little, Colorado law lets you hold it accountable. Start with a call to (303) 209-9395.
No fee unless we win
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(303) 209-9395
Erie, Boulder and Weld Counties
Why policyholders call us
CGH Injury Lawyers represents Erie 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.
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- ABOTA trial advocate on the team
- Trial-ready, not settlement-shy
- No fee unless we win
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ABOTA trial advocate on the team
Trial lawyers, not a settlement mill
8 attorneys, bilingual EN / ES
The adjuster came out, took photos, and left, and since then the answers have been vague or missing. An Erie bad faith insurance lawyer can pull the claim apart piece by piece and show whether your insurer's decisions had a reasonable basis.
CGH Injury Lawyers represents Erie policyholders from Denver, where the firm started in 2016. The quickest way to reach us is (303) 209-9395, or you can write through the contact page.
What This Page Covers
- Erie claims that can turn into bad faith disputes
- How Colorado's two bad faith claims work, with a comparison table
- Erie's two counties, their courts and nearby medical records
- What we do on a case and what you may recover
- Insurer defenses, deadlines, and frequent questions
Key Takeaways
- Your insurer's duty is recognized in the jury instructions. Colorado's civil jury instructions describe the good faith and fair dealing an insurer owes the people it insures.
- The statute targets unreasonable conduct. An insurer that delays or denies a covered benefit without a reasonable basis violates C.R.S. 10-3-1115.
- The statute sets out the remedy. C.R.S. 10-3-1116(1) lets you seek two times the covered benefit, plus reasonable attorney fees and court costs.
- You may bring one claim or both. The statutory claim and the common-law claim are separate, and the facts can support both.
- Confirm your deadline early. Common-law bad faith generally has two years from when you knew or should have known about the harm and what caused it.
Erie Claims That Can Turn Into Disputes
A storm tears up shingles and gutters, and the insurer approves a patch while your roofer says the whole roof needs replacing. A renter's belongings are stolen, and the claim stalls over questions already answered.
After a crash with an underinsured driver, your own underinsured motorist carrier may be slow to pay what your damages justify. And a health plan may deny a surgery your doctor says you need.
These are all first-party claims, meaning claims on your own policy. Colorado's bad faith statute protects first-party claimants.
Before you call, it helps to pull together:
- The claim number and the name of each adjuster assigned to it
- Every estimate, both the insurer's and your own contractor's or provider's
- The insurer's written reasons for any denial or reduced payment
- A rough timeline, even a handwritten one, of what happened and when
Common law vs. statute
How Colorado's Two Bad Faith Claims Work
You may have a claim under the statute, under the common law, or both. Chapter 25 of the jury instructions keeps the two distinct, and the same facts can feed each one.
| Question | Common-law claim | Statutory claim |
|---|---|---|
| Origin | Case law, starting with Travelers Insurance Co. v. Savio (Colo. 1985) | Two sections of the insurance code, 10-3-1115 and 10-3-1116 |
| What must be proven | Unreasonable conduct, plus knowledge of it or reckless disregard | Delay or denial of a covered benefit without a reasonable basis |
| Relative difficulty | More demanding, because of the knowledge element | Less demanding, requiring only unreasonable conduct |
| What it can pay | Damages caused by the insurer's conduct | Two times the covered benefit, reasonable attorney fees and court costs |
Statute: the reasonable-basis rule
Section 10-3-1115(1)(a) makes it unlawful for an insurer to unreasonably hold back or refuse benefits owed to a first-party claimant. Subsection (2) supplies the yardstick: an action is unreasonable if the insurer took it with no reasonable basis.
The protection runs to people claiming benefits under their own coverage. Someone pursuing a liability policy that covers another person isn't a first-party claimant, which is why a claim aimed at the at-fault driver's carrier generally isn't covered.
Common law: the Savio test
Savio requires unreasonable conduct and something more. The insurer must have known the conduct was unreasonable or acted with reckless disregard for that fact.
Local Knowledge
Erie's Counties, Courts and Medical Records
According to the Town of Erie, the town lies within two counties, Boulder and Weld. Where a bad faith lawsuit is filed depends on the facts, for example where the insurer does business and where you live, so the county you live in is one factor among several.
Weld County
Weld County is in the 19th Judicial District. The Weld County Centennial Center is at 915 10th Street, Greeley, CO 80631, and the Weld County Courthouse listing states that all court business is handled in the Centennial Center.
Medical records
The state's designated trauma facility list doesn't list a facility in Erie. It shows Good Samaritan Hospital, at 200 Exempla Circle in Lafayette, as Level II. When an insurer disputes medical charges, emergency and hospital records, along with an itemized billing statement, can help show the care was necessary.
Fire and rescue
Mountain View Fire Rescue lists Erie among the communities it serves. For a fire or smoke claim, its incident records may help show the timeline of the loss and the response.
Why CGH
CGH Injury Lawyers and Your Erie Claim
Trial preparation
Every file is prepared as if it will be tried.
ABOTA
The American Board of Trial Advocates counts Kevin Cheney, our Managing Partner, among its members.
A Denver firm
CGH Injury Lawyers was formerly Cheney Galluzzi & Howard, and our office is at 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201, Denver.
Spanish
Call (303) 835-9177 to speak with us in Spanish.
How we handle your case
Building an Erie Bad Faith Case, Step by Step
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Review
We read your policy and the insurer's correspondence and lay out the timeline.
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Theory
We decide whether the facts support the common-law claim, the statutory claim or both.
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Demand
A formal written demand goes to the insurer.
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Proof
We gather claims-file materials and your documentation, with outside expert input where it helps.
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Venue
We file where the case belongs, which for an Erie policyholder could be the district court in Boulder County or in Weld County, depending on the facts.
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Remedies
We go after what the law allows: the benefit itself, statutory damages and, where they apply, attorney fees.
Compensation
What You May Recover
The value of your case depends on the policy, the losses and the insurer's conduct, and numbers wait until we've been through the file.
Statute
C.R.S. 10-3-1116(1) lets a first-party claimant whose claim was unreasonably delayed or denied sue for double the covered benefit, plus reasonable attorney fees and court costs. If the insurer paid an unreasonably delayed benefit before judgment, the jury instructions say that payment isn't subtracted from the doubled amount.
Common law
The common-law damages instruction covers:
- Money you've lost, and money you'll probably lose later
- Noneconomic losses or injuries, present and probable future
- Disfigurement or physical impairment, if proven
Punitive damages
Some cases may support them. Showing bad faith, though, isn't by itself enough, according to the instruction notes.
Other claims stay open
Bringing the statutory action doesn't limit or affect other statutory or common-law actions you have (C.R.S. 10-3-1116(4)).
Insurer defenses
Insurer Arguments and Our Response
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"Our policy exclusion applies"
Your insurer can deny under an exclusion that fits the facts. We check whether the insurer had a reasonable basis to apply it, using the policy wording, the inspection and your own evidence.
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"The claim was fairly debatable"
Colorado permits an insurer to contest a fairly debatable claim, even if its denial turns out to be mistaken. That point cuts against a bad faith finding, yet, without more, it is not outcome-determinative, per the jury instructions. And if the insurer had no reasonable basis, the claim was never fairly debatable to begin with.
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"You never sent the paperwork"
We answer this with your own dated records: what you mailed or uploaded, when, and to whom. If the insurer had what it needed and still didn't decide, the timeline can help show that.
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"Later information supports us"
The decision is judged on what the insurer knew at the time it made it. That rule comes from Schultz v. GEICO Casualty Co., which the jury instructions cite.
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Deadlines and next steps
Filing Deadlines
The jury instructions classify common-law bad faith as a tort, which puts it under C.R.S. 13-80-102. You generally get two years, and the clock starts once you have learned, or by reasonable diligence would have learned, what the harm was and what brought it about.
For a statutory claim, Rooftop Restoration, Inc. v. American Family Mutual Insurance Co. took the one-year penalty-action limit in C.R.S. 13-80-103(1)(d) off the table for section 10-3-1116(1) actions. Because the start date itself can be argued, get your deadline confirmed by a lawyer.
Underinsured motorist bad faith claims are timed differently. Under the jury instructions, that bad faith claim can't accrue until you've obtained a judgment against, or settled with, the underinsured driver.
Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
I live on the Weld County side of Erie. Does that change anything?
It can affect where a lawsuit is filed, since venue depends on facts that include where you live and where the insurer does business. The state law on bad faith is the same in both counties.
Is an underinsured motorist dispute a bad faith insurance claim in Colorado?
It can be. Underinsured motorist coverage is coverage you bought on your own auto policy, so if your carrier unreasonably stalls or refuses those benefits, you may have a bad faith insurance claim in Colorado. The at-fault driver's insurer is a separate matter, and the statute generally doesn't reach it.
Does the bad faith statute apply to title or life insurance?
Generally not. C.R.S. 10-3-1115(6) says the statute doesn't apply to life insurance issued under article 7 of Title 10, and it also excludes title insurance and workers' compensation.
My health plan says it has discretion to decide what's covered. Is that allowed?
Not in a policy issued in Colorado. C.R.S. 10-3-1116(2) bars health and disability policies from reserving discretion to the insurer to interpret the policy or determine eligibility, and makes such a provision void.
What if my claim is simply taking a long time?
Length alone doesn't settle it. The question under the statute is whether the insurer had a reasonable basis for the delay, so we look at what happened during that time.
Which county's court would hear an Erie case?
Venue is a fact-specific call, and your home address and the insurer's place of business both play into it. The options may include the district court for Boulder County, at the Boulder County Combined Court, or the district court for Weld County, at the Weld County Centennial Center in Greeley.
My disability appeal was denied. What now?
If your claim under a health, life or disability policy issued in Colorado was denied in whole or in part and you've exhausted the administrative remedies, Colorado law entitles you to de novo review in a court with jurisdiction and to a jury trial (C.R.S. 10-3-1116(3)). A lawyer can check whether the appeal process is complete.
Do you have an office in Erie?
No. Erie matters are handled out of our Denver location, 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201. We're a phone call away at (303) 209-9395.
Keep Reading
Related pages
It's More Than Money.
Speak With an Erie Bad Faith Insurance Attorney
A bad faith insurance attorney can review your policy and the insurer's letters with you and explain your options. Phone (303) 209-9395, or describe the claim in a message through the contact page.
Statewide background is on the Colorado bad faith insurance lawyer page, and our work in the capital is described on the Denver bad faith insurance lawyer page. If a crash is involved, visit our Erie car accident lawyer or Erie uninsured motorist lawyer page, and our Erie personal injury lawyers page covers the rest.
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.