IT'S MORE THAN MONEY.
Your policy is a promise, and you kept your side of it. If your insurance company has been slow-walking a covered claim, rejecting it or paying a fraction of the loss, you can have the file looked at by lawyers who handle these disputes. Call (303) 209-9395 and tell us where things stand.
No fee unless we winFort Collins, Larimer County
CGH Injury Lawyers represents Fort Collins 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.
You reported the loss, sent the photos, and waited, and the check still hasn’t come or came in far too small. A Fort Collins bad faith insurance lawyer can compare what your insurer did against what Colorado law requires of it.
CGH Injury Lawyers represents Fort Collins policyholders from our office in Denver. Reach us at (303) 209-9395, or send the details through our contact page.
You might be dealing with a burst pipe that flooded the basement, where the adjuster keeps saying the damage came from something the policy doesn’t cover. You might have a stolen car and an insurer that won’t commit to a value.
Or a long-term disability benefit that paid for months has stopped, and the letter explaining why doesn’t match your records. Under the statute, each of these turns on whether the insurer had a reasonable basis for its decision.
We read the file with you and tell you plainly what we see. If the claim looks sound on the insurer’s side, you’ll hear that too.
Colorado lets a policyholder sue an insurer for bad faith in two ways. The jury instructions describe the statutory claim as “in addition to and separate from” its first-party common-law counterpart (Colorado Civil Jury Instructions, ch. 25).
| Question | Common-law claim | Statutory claim |
|---|---|---|
| Legal source | Travelers Insurance Co. v. Savio (Colo. 1985) | Sections 10-3-1115 and 10-3-1116 of the insurance code |
| What must be proven | Unreasonable conduct, plus knowledge or reckless disregard that it was unreasonable | A delay or denial of a covered benefit with no reasonable basis |
| Possible recovery | Damages the insurer’s conduct caused | A suit for two times the covered benefit, with reasonable attorney fees and court costs |
Colorado’s insurance code bars an insurer from unreasonably delaying or denying payment of benefits it owes a first-party claimant (C.R.S. 10-3-1115(1)(a)). It treats the insurer’s action as unreasonable when it was taken “without a reasonable basis for that action” (C.R.S. 10-3-1115(2)).
A first-party claimant is someone claiming benefits under a policy. The definition in subsection (1)(b) of C.R.S. 10-3-1115 leaves out a person pursuing someone else’s liability coverage, which generally puts a claim against the other driver’s carrier outside the statute.
Health, life, and disability policies issued in Colorado carry an extra protection. Once you have exhausted the administrative remedies, C.R.S. 10-3-1116(3) entitles you to have a denied claim reviewed de novo in court and to a jury trial.
Savio, a 1985 decision of the state’s highest court, supplies the common-law test. You have to show unreasonable conduct and also that the insurer knew it was unreasonable or recklessly disregarded that fact.
That knowledge element is the extra hurdle. The statutory claim asks only whether the conduct was unreasonable, which is why the jury instructions treat the two claims differently.
Fort Collins is the county seat of Larimer County, which counts it among the county’s municipalities. The county’s courts are part of the 8th Judicial District.
Larimer County Justice Center
The Larimer County Justice Center is at 201 LaPorte Ave, Suite 100, Fort Collins, CO 80521, and houses the county and district courts. The right court for your lawsuit turns on your facts, such as the county you live in and the places the insurer conducts business.
Trauma care and medical proof
An insurer that questions a treatment bill will look at your medical chart. UCHealth Poudre Valley Hospital, 1024 S. Lemay Avenue, is shown as a Level III facility on the Colorado health department’s list of designated trauma facilities, and its records can help show what care was needed when a medical payment is disputed.
A Fort Collins dispute can start with any of these:
We prepare every case as if it will go to trial.
Managing Partner Kevin Cheney is a member of ABOTA, the American Board of Trial Advocates.
The firm, formerly Cheney Galluzzi & Howard, opened in Denver in 2016. Our office is at 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201, Denver.
Call (303) 835-9177 to speak with us in Spanish.
We go through your policy, every letter and email, and the dates that show how the claim moved.
We decide whether the facts support a statutory claim, a common-law claim, or a case built on each.
We put the insurer on formal notice with a written demand.
We collect claim-file materials and supporting documents and bring in outside expert input where it helps.
We file in the court where the case belongs, which for a Fort Collins resident may be the district court for Larimer County, at the Larimer County Justice Center, after confirming venue.
Where the law allows, we seek attorney fees, statutory damages, and the benefit itself.
Your recovery depends on the policy, the harm you suffered, and the insurer’s handling of the claim. We’ll give you our read once we’ve gone through your file.
If your claim was unreasonably delayed or denied, the remedy section lets you sue in district court to recover twice the covered benefit, plus reasonable attorney fees and court costs (C.R.S. 10-3-1116(1)). According to the jury instructions, an unreasonably delayed benefit the insurer paid before judgment doesn’t reduce that two-times award.
The common-law jury instruction asks jurors to consider:
The statutory action is added on top of the other remedies Colorado law provides; it doesn’t replace them (C.R.S. 10-3-1116(4)). That lets a Fort Collins case pursue the contract benefit, the statutory claim, and a common-law claim together when the facts fit each one. Damages awarded under that section can’t be recovered again in another claim.
These are possible in some cases. The jury instructions caution, though, that a finding of bad faith isn’t enough by itself to support them.
Judges measure the insurer’s call against the facts in its hands when it decides, a rule the jury instructions draw from Schultz v. GEICO Casualty Co. That cuts both ways, so the claims file can help show what the insurer knew and when it knew it.
Colorado allows an insurer to contest a claim that is “fairly debatable,” even if its denial later proves mistaken. The jury instructions add that this “weighs against a finding of bad faith; however, without more, this factor is not outcome-determinative,” and it isn’t necessarily sufficient to defeat a bad faith claim as a matter of law. If the insurer lacked any reasonable basis, the claim wasn’t fairly debatable at all.
A dated log of each document you provided can help here. If you request the same item three times, the log will show it.
Your insurer can rely on coverage language that fits your facts. When its reading of an exclusion doesn’t square with the policy or the facts, that gap can become part of the case.
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Common-law bad faith. The jury instructions classify it as a tort. C.R.S. 13-80-102 bars it “unless brought within two years” of the point when you knew, or with reasonable diligence should have known, both the harm and what caused it.
Statutory bad faith. A 2018 Colorado Supreme Court decision, Rooftop Restoration v. American Family, held that the one-year limit in C.R.S. 13-80-103(1)(d) doesn’t govern a section 10-3-1116(1) action. When your clock started can be disputed, so have a lawyer confirm the deadline for your case.
Underinsured motorist claims. These follow their timing rule. Per the jury instructions, bad faith over unpaid underinsured motorist benefits can’t accrue until you’ve obtained a judgment against, or settled with, the underinsured driver.
Start with the reason your insurer gave. Under the statute, a bad faith insurance claim in Colorado generally asks whether your insurer delayed or denied a benefit it owed without a reasonable basis (C.R.S. 10-3-1115). A lawyer can compare that reason against your policy and the claim timeline.
A homeowner’s claim for benefits under your policy is a first-party claim, so the statute can apply. Under the statute, what matters is whether the insurer had a reasonable basis to delay or deny it. Homeowner’s coverage isn’t among the statute’s exclusions for workers’ compensation, title, and life insurance (C.R.S. 10-3-1115).
Generally not under the statute. Someone claiming against another person’s liability coverage isn’t a first-party claimant under C.R.S. 10-3-1115, but your own uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage stands differently because that policy covers you.
Colorado’s jury instructions say an unreasonably delayed benefit paid before judgment can’t be used to reduce the statutory two-times award you can seek under C.R.S. 10-3-1116.
That turns on your facts, including your county of residence and the insurer’s business locations. One possibility is the district court sitting in the Larimer County Justice Center, and we confirm the right court before anything is filed.
Not in a health or disability policy issued in Colorado. Under C.R.S. 10-3-1116(2), those policies can’t hand the insurer discretion over how the terms are read or who qualifies for benefits, and a clause that tries is void.
No. We work from our Denver office at 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201, Denver, CO 80205. Dial (303) 209-9395 when you’re ready to talk.
It's More Than Money.
When a claim has gone quiet, been refused, or been paid short, a bad-faith insurance attorney can go through the paperwork with you. Call (303) 209-9395 or write to us through the contact page.
For background, read about how a Colorado bad faith insurance lawyer handles these disputes, or visit our Denver bad faith insurance lawyer page. After a crash, see the Fort Collins uninsured motorist lawyer or Fort Collins car accident lawyer information. Everything else we handle locally is listed under Fort Collins personal injury lawyers.
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. Laws vary by jurisdiction and change frequently. Always consult a licensed attorney for advice specific to your situation.
