The courthouse
The La Plata County Courthouse is at 1060 East Second Ave, Suite 106, Durango, CO 81301. La Plata County is in the 6th Judicial District, along with Archuleta and San Juan counties.
IT'S MORE THAN MONEY.
Durango Bad Faith Insurance Lawyers Testing Your Insurer's Reasons for Delay
Months after the loss, you're still living with the damage and still waiting on your insurer. Under Colorado's bad faith statute, an insurance company needs a reasonable basis for delaying or denying a covered benefit. Call (303) 209-9395 and tell us where things stand.
No fee unless we win
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(303) 209-9395
Durango, La Plata County
Why policyholders call us
CGH Injury Lawyers represents Durango 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
Some claims stall because of a genuine question. Others stall because no one at the insurance company seems to be working on them. A Durango bad faith insurance lawyer can sort out which kind you have and what Colorado law lets you do next.
From our Denver office, CGH Injury Lawyers represents Durango policyholders whose own insurers have let them down. Phone us at (303) 209-9395, or explain the situation on our contact page, and we'll follow up.
What This Page Covers
- The good faith duty in Colorado and the two ways to enforce it
- La Plata County's courthouse, Mercy Hospital, and Durango fire incident reports
- The work we do on a Durango claim, from file review to filing
- What a successful claim can recover
- How insurers push back, and how long you have to sue
Key Takeaways
- Your insurer owes you good faith and fair dealing. Colorado's civil jury instructions for bad faith cases put that duty on every insurer toward its own insureds.
- Colorado recognizes two separate claims. A lawsuit can include a common-law bad faith claim, a statutory claim, or both, all built on the same facts.
- The statutory test is about the basis. An insurer that delays or denies without a reasonable basis has acted unreasonably under the insurance code.
- The statute lets you seek double the benefit. A first-party claimant whose claim was unreasonably delayed or denied can sue for two times the covered benefit, plus reasonable attorney fees and court costs.
- Plan around the deadline. Common-law bad faith generally must be filed within two years of when you knew or should have known of the injury and its cause, and a lawyer should confirm yours.
How Durango Claims Go Sideways
A fire starts in the garage and spreads into the house, and the insurer's contents offer is a fraction of what you lost. A pipe bursts while you're away, and the company decides the water damage came from a slow leak it doesn't cover. After a crash with a driver who had too little insurance, your underinsured motorist claim goes to an adjuster who won't commit to a number.
The facts change from claim to claim. What the statute asks about each one stays the same: did your insurer have a reasonable basis for delaying, denying or cutting the payment?
We start by asking for the paper you already have: the policy, the claim letters, the estimates, and any photos. From there we can tell you what the file shows and what it's missing.
Common law vs. statute
Two Legal Claims Against a Bad Faith Insurer
Colorado's bad faith law has a court-made branch and a legislative branch. The jury instructions say the statutory claim stands "in addition to and separate from" the common-law claim, and the statute itself provides that its action is in addition to other statutory and common-law actions (10-3-1116(4)).
| Common-law claim | Statutory claim | |
|---|---|---|
| Who created it | The Colorado Supreme Court, in Travelers Insurance Co. v. Savio (1985) | The legislature, on 10-3-1115 and 10-3-1116 |
| What must be proven | Unreasonable conduct, and that the insurer knew or recklessly disregarded that it was unreasonable | That the insurer delayed or denied benefits without a reasonable basis |
| What a win can bring | Damages flowing from the conduct | Two times the covered benefit, reasonable attorney fees, and court costs |
The court-made claim
Savio's test has two parts. You prove the insurer acted unreasonably, and you also prove it knew the conduct was unreasonable or showed reckless disregard for that fact.
The legislative claim
Under 10-3-1115(1)(a), an insurer has to pay benefits owed to a first-party claimant without unreasonable delay or denial. An action counts as unreasonable if the company had no reasonable basis for it (10-3-1115(2)).
The claimant has to be claiming benefits under the policy. Someone pursuing a claim against an insured under a liability policy is outside the definition, which is why a dispute with the other driver's carrier generally doesn't fit (10-3-1115(1)(b)).
Because the statutory claim skips the knowledge element, the jury instructions describe it as the one with less to prove.
Local Knowledge
La Plata County Courts, Hospital Records and Fire Reports
The City of Durango identifies itself as the "county seat of La Plata County." Where a lawsuit against your insurer should be filed turns on the facts of the case, among them your residence and the places the insurer does business.
Hospital records
If an insurer questions a medical bill, your chart can help show what care you needed. Mercy Hospital, at 1010 Three Springs Blvd in Durango, appears as a Level III facility on the state's designated trauma facility list.
Fire incident reports
The Durango Fire Protection District, known as Durango Fire & Rescue, serves the City of Durango under a voter-approved contract. Its open records page has a form for requesting an incident report, which can help show what crews found when an insurer disputes a fire loss.
A Durango claim can turn into a bad faith dispute in several ways:
- A fire loss where the contents or rebuild offer falls far below the actual cost
- Water damage the insurer blames on something the policy excludes
- An underinsured motorist claim on your own auto policy
- A health or disability benefit that's refused or terminated
Why CGH
Durango Policyholders and CGH Injury Lawyers
Trial preparation
We prepare each case as if it will be tried. Kevin Cheney, the firm's Managing Partner, is an ABOTA member (American Board of Trial Advocates).
Case review
We go through your policy, the correspondence, and the timeline of the claim.
Our Denver office
The office is at 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201, Denver.
Spanish spoken
Call our Spanish line at (303) 835-9177.
How we handle your case
The Work We Do on a Durango Claim
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Read everything
We go through the coverage, the correspondence, and the timeline of your claim.
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Identify the claim
We match the facts to common-law bad faith, the statutory claim under 10-3-1116, or both.
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Send a demand
The insurer gets a formal written demand.
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Assemble the evidence
That includes claims-file materials, your documentation, and, where it helps, outside expert input.
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File suit where it belongs
For a Durango policyholder, the district court for La Plata County, at the La Plata County Courthouse, is one possibility, and we confirm the right court for your facts.
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Go after what the law allows
That means the underlying benefit, statutory damages, and attorney fees, where applicable.
Compensation
What a Successful Claim Can Recover
What your claim is worth depends on the policy, what you lost, and how the insurer behaved. Reading the file is where any talk of numbers starts.
Statutory damages
A first-party claimant whose claim was unreasonably delayed or denied can sue in district court under 10-3-1116(1) for reasonable attorney fees and court costs, plus two times the covered benefit. If the insurer pays an unreasonably delayed benefit before judgment, the jury instruction notes say that payment may not reduce the two-times award.
Common-law damages
The Colorado instruction on these damages allows a jury to award:
- Economic losses already suffered or probable in the future
- Noneconomic losses or injuries
- Physical impairment or disfigurement, where supported
Punitive damages
They're possible in some cases. Still, the instruction notes make clear that proving bad faith alone doesn't establish a claim for them.
Insurer defenses
How Insurers Push Back
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They point to what they knew at the time
The law evaluates an insurer's decision based on the information it had when it decided. The jury instructions cite Schultz v. GEICO Casualty Co. for that principle, so we build a dated record of what the insurer had and when.
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They say more investigation is needed
An insurer may need time to investigate. When the inspection is done, the documents are in and the claim still sits, we document the gap between the insurer's last step and today.
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They call the claim fairly debatable
Under the jury instructions, an insurer may challenge a fairly debatable claim even if its denial later turns out to be a mistake. That factor weighs against a bad faith finding but, without more, is not outcome-determinative or necessarily sufficient to defeat the claim as a matter of law. And a claim the insurer had no reasonable basis to deny isn't fairly debatable.
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Deadlines and next steps
How Long You Have to Sue
A common-law bad faith claim is a tort. Per the jury instructions, 13-80-102 bars it unless it's brought within two years after the injury and its cause are known, or through reasonable diligence should have been known.
The statutory claim is treated differently. In Rooftop Restoration, Inc. v. American Family Mutual Insurance Co., the Colorado Supreme Court held that the one-year limitation for penalty actions in 13-80-103(1)(d) does not apply to a 10-3-1116(1) claim. Your deadline depends on dates a lawyer should confirm.
Underinsured motorist cases have their own timing. The jury instructions note that a bad faith claim for failing to pay UIM benefits can't accrue until you've obtained a judgment against, or settled with, the underinsured driver.
Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
What turns an ordinary claim dispute into a bad faith insurance claim in Colorado?
Under the statute, a disagreement over a claim becomes a bad faith insurance claim in Colorado when the insurer's delay or denial had no reasonable basis (10-3-1115). For the common-law version, the insurer must also have known its conduct was unreasonable or recklessly disregarded that.
The fire department wrote a report. Can that help my claim?
It can help show what crews found at the scene, which matters when an insurer disputes how a fire started or how much it damaged. In Durango, Durango Fire & Rescue takes incident report requests through its open records form.
Does the statute apply to my disability insurance?
Yes, it can reach disability claims, since disability insurance isn't among the statute's exclusions for workers' compensation, title and life insurance. Colorado also voids any provision in a disability or health policy issued in Colorado reserving discretion to the insurer to interpret the terms or decide eligibility (10-3-1116(2)).
Can I claim bad faith against the insurer for the driver who caused my crash?
Generally no. The statute doesn't protect someone pursuing another person's liability policy. Its protection runs to coverage you hold, and your own uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage is an example.
What might I recover in a Durango bad faith case?
Under 10-3-1116, the statute lets you seek double the covered benefit, plus reasonable attorney fees and court costs. On the common-law side, a jury can award financial and nonfinancial losses, and punitive damages are possible in some cases. Your own figure depends on the file.
Which court would handle a Durango case?
The proper court turns on your facts, such as your home address and where the company operates. One court we'd consider for a Durango policyholder is the district court for La Plata County, at the La Plata County Courthouse.
Does CGH Injury Lawyers have a Durango office?
No. Our office is in Denver, at 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201. Durango clients reach us at (303) 209-9395.
Keep Reading
Related pages
It's More Than Money.
Speak With a Durango Bad Faith Insurance Attorney
When a covered claim has stalled or been turned down, a bad faith insurance attorney can go through the policy and the insurer's letters with you. Call (303) 209-9395 or visit our contact page to tell us what happened.
For more background, see our Colorado bad faith insurance lawyer page and our Denver bad faith insurance lawyer page. If a collision started your claim, read our Durango uninsured motorist lawyer and Durango car accident lawyer pages, and see Durango personal injury lawyers for 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.