IT'S MORE THAN MONEY.
You've paid premiums for years, and now you need the claim handled. If yours is stuck, refused, or priced far below the repair, give us a call at (303) 209-9395 and walk us through it.
No fee unless we winBrighton, Adams County
CGH Injury Lawyers represents Brighton 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.
Smoke stains on the ceiling, a tarp on the roof, a car still in the body shop: the damage is plain, and the payment isn't coming. A Brighton bad faith insurance lawyer can look at how your own carrier treated the claim and whether Colorado law gives you leverage.
CGH Injury Lawyers, formerly Cheney Galluzzi & Howard, opened in Denver in 2016. Dial (303) 209-9395, or write to us from the contact page.
Picture a grease fire that blackened a kitchen and left smoke in every closet. The carrier pays for the cabinets, calls the rest "cosmetic," and stops returning calls.
Or picture a crash where the other driver carried too little, and your own underinsured motorist carrier wants a fourth copy of the same medical records. In both stories, the statutory test is whether the company had a reasonable basis for its position, which is what we look for in the file.
Call even if your papers are a mess. The denial letter, a repair estimate, and the adjuster's last email are enough to begin.
It also helps to jot down, while it's fresh, the order in which things happened: when you reported the loss, when the adjuster came out, and each time the carrier asked for something new. Those dates help show whether the delay had a reasonable basis.
Colorado treats a statutory claim and a common-law claim as two distinct causes of action. The jury instructions describe the statutory right as "in addition to and separate from" the common-law claim, and a single set of events can support both.
| Question | Under C.R.S. 10-3-1115 and 10-3-1116 | Under the common law |
|---|---|---|
| What has to be shown | Benefits were held back or refused with no reasonable basis. | The carrier's conduct was unreasonable, and it knew that or recklessly ignored it |
| Where the rule comes from | The Colorado insurance code | Colorado Supreme Court case law from 1985 |
| What a win can mean | Double the covered benefit, reasonable attorney fees, and court costs. | Compensation for harm the conduct caused |
The statute's test
Colorado's code forbids an insurer to unreasonably hold back or refuse a payment owed to a first-party claimant (C.R.S. 10-3-1115(1)(a)). The same section measures reasonableness by one thing: whether the company had a reasonable basis for acting as it did.
The protection belongs to the person claiming under a policy that covers them. Someone pursuing another person's liability coverage isn't a first-party claimant under the definition, which generally puts the at-fault driver's carrier out of the statute's reach.
The common-law test
The Colorado Supreme Court established the standard in Travelers Insurance Co. v. Savio. Beyond unreasonable conduct, you must show the insurer knew its conduct was unreasonable or recklessly disregarded that it was. The extra element is why this route is the tougher of the two.
The Adams County Justice Center is located in Brighton itself, at 1100 Judicial Center Dr., Brighton, CO 80601. It serves Adams County, part of the 17th Judicial District.
Brighton also reaches into Weld County, as the city's own permit reports page shows, and Weld County sits in the 19th Judicial District. The right court for your suit turns on the facts, among them your home county and the places your carrier does business, and a Weld County case may belong at the Weld County Centennial Center, 915 10th Street, Greeley, CO 80631.
The hospital chart
When an insurer balks at an emergency bill, the treating hospital's records can help show what care you needed. Platte Valley Hospital, at 1600 Prairie Center Parkway in Brighton, appears as a Level III facility on the state trauma facility list kept by the Colorado health department.
The fire report
In a fire claim, the responding agency's account of the scene can help show the cause and extent of the fire. The Brighton Fire Rescue District protects the City of Brighton, and its site links to an open records request page.
Brighton disputes of this kind can begin with:
Every case gets prepared as if it will be tried.
Kevin Cheney, our managing partner, belongs to the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA).
We go through your policy, the correspondence, and the timeline of the claim.
Our Spanish line is (303) 835-9177.
Coverage terms, correspondence, and a timeline of the claim come first.
The facts may fit the common-law claim, the statutory claim, or both at once.
We put the carrier on written notice of the problem.
Claims-file materials, documentation, and, where it helps, input from an outside expert.
That could be the district court for Adams County or, for some facts, Weld County.
The underlying benefit is statutory damages and attorney fees where applicable.
The figure depends on your coverage, what you lost, and how the carrier behaved. Numbers come after we've read the file.
The unpaid policy amount stays part of what we pursue, alongside anything the statute or the common law adds.
C.R.S. 10-3-1116(1) lets a first-party claimant whose claim was unreasonably delayed or denied sue to recover court costs, reasonable attorney fees and double the covered benefit. Colorado's jury instructions add a useful point: the doubled award may not be reduced by the amount of an unreasonably delayed benefit the carrier paid before judgment.
The jury instruction on damages for this claim includes:
In some cases, punitive damages come into play. Showing bad faith, though, isn't enough by itself to support them, according to the instructions.
Under the jury instructions, the doubled statutory award may not be reduced by the amount of an unreasonably delayed benefit paid before judgment.
Your insurer may take time to evaluate a fire or hail loss. A review that goes silent for weeks, with no new questions and no decision, looks very different on a timeline, and we build that timeline from your calls and letters.
A carrier may challenge a claim that is fairly debatable, even when its decision turns out to be mistaken. The jury instructions say that factor weighs against bad faith but, without more, is not outcome-determinative, and a claim with no reasonable basis for denial isn't fairly debatable.
Colorado courts judge the decision on the information the carrier had when it made it. The jury instructions cite Schultz v. GEICO Casualty Co. for this point.
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The jury instructions classify common-law bad faith as a tort. That puts it under C.R.S. 13-80-102, with two years to sue, counted from when you knew or reasonably should have known both the injury and what caused it.
The statutory claim has a separate history. In Rooftop Restoration, a 2018 decision, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled out the one-year penalty-action limit of C.R.S. 13-80-103(1)(d) for claims brought under C.R.S. 10-3-1116(1).
Underinsured motorist disputes run on another track. Per the jury instructions, bad faith over unpaid UIM benefits can't accrue until you've obtained a judgment against, or settled with, the underinsured driver, so ask a lawyer to confirm your date.
The reason behind the delay. For a bad faith insurance claim in Colorado under the statute, the question is whether your carrier had a reasonable basis for holding back or refusing benefits, and a common-law claim adds proof that it knew its conduct was unreasonable or recklessly disregarded that fact.
That depends on the facts, including your home county and where the carrier does business. The Adams County Justice Center in Brighton and the Weld County Centennial Center in Greeley are both possibilities, and we confirm the right one before filing.
Generally not. The statute protects people claiming under their coverage, and it leaves out claims against someone else's liability policy, while a claim under your own uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage can qualify.
Save the policy, every letter and email, and a note of each call with the date and the adjuster's name. After a fire, request the fire report, and after an emergency room visit, keep the records and bills.
Possibly. The jury instructions say an unreasonably delayed benefit paid before judgment can't be used to reduce the statutory two-times award, and a lawyer can check which deadline applies to you.
It can. Disability isn't among the statute's exclusions for workers' compensation, title, and life insurance, and in a health or disability policy issued in Colorado, any term reserving discretion to the insurer to interpret the policy or decide eligibility is void (C.R.S. 10-3-1116(2)).
No. Brighton clients work with our Denver office at 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201, Denver, CO 80205, and the number is (303) 209-9395.
It's More Than Money.
If the carrier has stopped responding, said no, or made an offer that ignores your policy, a bad-faith insurance attorney can review the claim with you. Phone (303) 209-9395 or use the contact page.
To learn more about our work as a Colorado bad faith insurance lawyer, visit our Denver page for bad faith insurance law. Road-related claims may lead you to our Brighton car accident lawyer and Brighton uninsured motorist lawyer pages, and the Brighton personal injury lawyers page links to everything else.
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.
