IT'S MORE THAN MONEY.
The driver who hit you had too little coverage, so you turned to your policy, and now that insurer is the one stalling. Call (303) 209-9395 to talk it through.
No fee unless we winThornton, Adams and Weld Counties
CGH Injury Lawyers represents Thornton 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.
It’s a tough spot to be in: hurt, out of work, and arguing with the company you’ve paid for years. A Thornton bad faith insurance lawyer can review your underinsured motorist, homeowner, or health claim and tell you whether your insurer’s position has a reasonable basis.
CGH Injury Lawyers, formerly Cheney Galluzzi & Howard, has been a Denver firm since its founding in 2016. For a Thornton claim, call (303) 209-9395 or use the contact page.
This page provides content for general informational purposes only and does not constitute 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.
After a crash on a Thornton street, the at-fault driver’s policy may run out long before your bills do. That’s why you have your underinsured motorist coverage, and when that carrier delays, you’re dealing with your insurer rather than a stranger’s. A Thornton car accident lawyer handles the separate claim against a driver who caused a crash.
When your UIM carrier second-guesses every treatment, lowballs the offer, or goes silent, the bad faith rules may give you a way to push back.
Your medical care after the crash can be the most important part of a UIM claim. Every visit, test, and prescription is part of the record, and a carrier that sets those records aside without a reasonable basis raises the question the statute asks.
The same rules reach other policies too. A roof claim after a storm, a stolen car, or a health plan’s refusal to pay for a procedure can all raise the question of whether the insurer had a reasonable basis.
Colorado recognizes a claim under its insurance code and a separate claim under the common law. The jury instructions say the statutory claim is “in addition to and separate from” the common-law claim, and your facts may support both. You can read more about the two on our Colorado bad faith insurance lawyer page.
| Point of comparison | Insurance code claim | Common-law claim |
|---|---|---|
| Must be proven | The insurer delayed or denied a covered benefit with no reasonable basis. | The insurer was unreasonable and knew it or recklessly disregarded it. |
| Authority | C.R.S. 10-3-1115 and 10-3-1116 | Travelers Insurance Co. v. Savio (Colo. 1985) |
| If you prevail | Twice the covered benefit with reasonable attorney fees and court costs | Damages resulting from the insurer’s conduct |
C.R.S. 10-3-1115(1)(a) prohibits an insurer from unreasonably delaying or denying payment of a first-party claimant’s benefits. Under subsection (2), the conduct is unreasonable if the insurer acted “without a reasonable basis for that action.”
The statute doesn’t cover someone claiming against another person’s liability policy. In a crash case, that means the at-fault driver’s insurer generally sits outside it, while your UIM carrier sits inside.
In Travelers Insurance Co. v. Savio, the Colorado Supreme Court required both unreasonable conduct and the insurer’s knowledge of it, or reckless disregard of it. That knowledge element is what makes the common-law claim harder to win.
The City of Thornton describes itself as “the largest city within Adams County” on its information for new residents page.
Adams County’s district court is at the Adams County Justice Center, 1100 Judicial Center Dr., Brighton, CO 80601, part of the 17th Judicial District.
The court for a bad faith suit depends on the facts, including where you live and where the insurer does business. We settle that question before filing.
Your hospital records
HCA HealthONE Mountain Ridge, at 9191 Grant St in Thornton, is listed as a Level II facility on the state trauma facility list. If you were treated there after a crash, its records can help show what care you needed if a UIM carrier disputes your injuries.
Thornton claims that can end in a bad-faith dispute:
We prepare each case as if it will be tried.
Our managing partner, Kevin Cheney, holds membership in the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA).
We go through your policy, the correspondence, and the timeline of the claim.
Call (303) 835-9177.
We start with your coverage, the correspondence, and the claim timeline.
We match the facts to the common-law claim, a claim under C.R.S. 10-3-1116, or both.
The insurer receives a formal demand.
Claims-file materials, documentation, and, where it helps, outside expert input.
We file where the case belongs, which for Thornton may be the district court for Adams County, at the Adams County Justice Center, depending on the facts.
The underlying benefit is statutory damages and attorney fees where applicable.
The value of a claim depends on the policy, the harm, and how the insurer handled things. We read the file before discussing numbers. The unpaid UIM or property benefit itself remains part of what we pursue.
If your claim was unreasonably delayed or denied, C.R.S. 10-3-1116(1) lets you sue in district court for two times the covered benefit, plus reasonable attorney fees and court costs. The jury instructions add that paying an unreasonably delayed benefit before judgment doesn’t let the insurer trim the doubled figure.
Colorado’s damages instruction for this claim includes
A punitive award is available only in some cases, and a bad faith verdict doesn’t establish one without more, according to the jury instructions.
When a UIM carrier ignores your treating doctors or relies on a review that didn’t look at your records, the reasonable-basis question is clearly at issue.
If months pass with no exam, no report and no answer after an insurer asks for its medical review, the delay needs a reasonable basis of its own.
Per the jury instructions, an insurer may challenge a fairly debatable claim “even if the decision to deny coverage ultimately turns out to be mistaken.” That weighs against bad faith, yet it isn’t outcome-determinative without more, and where the insurer lacked any reasonable basis the claim wasn’t fairly debatable.
The timing of the decision matters. Colorado measures a denial against what the carrier knew when it made the call, and the jury instructions trace that rule to Schultz v. GEICO Casualty Co.
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The jury instructions treat common-law bad faith as a tort under C.R.S. 13-80-102, which allows two years once the injury and its cause are known to you or would have been known with reasonable diligence.
In Rooftop Restoration, the Colorado Supreme Court held that the one-year penalty-action limit in C.R.S. 13-80-103(1)(d) doesn’t reach a claim under C.R.S. 10-3-1116(1). A lawyer should confirm which period applies to you.
UIM claims are more complicated. The jury instructions say a bad faith claim for unpaid UIM benefits can’t accrue until you’ve obtained a judgment against, or settled with, the underinsured driver. How that coverage works is explained on our Thornton uninsured motorist lawyer page.
It can be. Underinsured motorist coverage is first-party coverage, so a statutory bad faith insurance claim in Colorado can arise if your carrier unreasonably delays or denies UIM benefits without a reasonable basis.
Not until you’ve obtained a judgment against, or settled with, the underinsured driver, according to the jury instructions. Your exact timing is something a lawyer should work out with you.
It depends on the facts, such as where you live and where the insurer does business. One possibility is the district court for Adams County, at the Adams County Justice Center in Brighton, and we confirm the right one before filing.
Under the statute, it means the insurer needs a real reason for its delay or denial, and C.R.S. 10-3-1115(2) treats the conduct as unreasonable without one. We line up the reasons in the denial letter against what the insurer actually had in its file.
Yes, potentially. The statute lets you seek twice the covered benefit, plus reasonable attorney fees and court costs, and a common-law claim can include economic and noneconomic losses the insurer’s conduct caused.
It can, since health claims are first-party claims. C.R.S. 10-3-1116(2) also makes void any clause in a health or disability policy issued in Colorado that gives the insurer discretion to interpret the terms or to decide eligibility.
Keep the crash report, your medical records and bills, proof of missed work, and every letter or email from both insurers. A simple log of each call, with the date and who you spoke to, helps show how long the claim has been sitting.
No. We represent Thornton clients from our Denver office at 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201. Call (303) 209-9395.
It's More Than Money.
Whether your insurer is slow-walking the claim, has refused it, or keeps offering too little, a bad-faith insurance attorney can sit down with the paperwork and tell you where you stand. Phone (303) 209-9395 or write to us through the contact page.
The rest of our work in the area is on our Thornton personal injury lawyers page.
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.
