IT'S MORE THAN MONEY.
A kitchen fire, a hail-battered roof, or a crash with an underinsured driver is hard enough without a fight against your insurance company. If the insurer has stuck, refused, or priced your claim far below the loss, Colorado law may give you leverage. Tell us what happened at (303) 209-9395.
No fee unless we winLoveland, Larimer County
CGH Injury Lawyers represents Loveland 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.
When your insurer stalls or refuses a claim, a Loveland bad faith insurance lawyer can check whether the company handling your claim had a legitimate reason for the way it treated you.
Our firm, CGH Injury Lawyers, represents Loveland policyholders from our Denver office. Phone (303) 209-9395 or reach out on 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.
Maybe a hailstorm left your roof full of dents, and the adjuster’s estimate covers a fraction of the contractor’s bid. Maybe a stovetop fire damaged the kitchen, and months later the insurer is still asking for proof of what you owned.
An underinsured motorist claim can stall too, even though you’re claiming against your own policy. In each case the statutory question is whether the insurer had a reasonable basis for delaying, denying or cutting the payment. If you’re making a claim against an at-fault driver after a crash, check out our Loveland car accident lawyer page.
We’ll look at your paperwork and tell you straight whether the facts point to bad faith. Sometimes they point to an honest coverage dispute instead, and we’ll tell you that.
The Colorado Civil Jury Instructions, ch. 25 treat these as two distinct claims. They describe the statutory action as “in addition to and separate from” the common-law one, and the same history of mishandling can support both. The statewide rules behind both are on our Colorado bad faith insurance lawyer page.
| Statute (C.R.S. 10-3-1115 and 10-3-1116) | Common law | |
|---|---|---|
| Core requirement | The insurer delayed or denied benefits owed to you with no reasonable basis. | The insurer acted unreasonably and either knew it or recklessly disregarded it. |
| Source | Colorado’s insurance code | The Colorado Supreme Court’s 1985 ruling in Travelers Insurance Co. v. Savio |
| Relative difficulty | Unreasonable conduct alone is enough | The added knowledge element makes it harder to prove. |
| Recovery | Twice the covered benefit, plus reasonable attorney fees and court costs | Losses caused by the insurer’s handling |
Section 10-3-1115(1)(a) forbids an insurer to “unreasonably delay or deny payment” of benefits owed to a first-party claimant. The same section defines unreasonable conduct as action taken “without a reasonable basis for that action” (C.R.S. 10-3-1115(2)).
The statute is written for people claiming benefits under their coverage. It generally doesn’t help someone pursuing an at-fault driver’s liability insurer, because that person isn’t a first-party claimant under the definition.
Savio describes a two-part standard. There must be unreasonable conduct, plus “knowledge that the conduct is unreasonable or a reckless disregard” for that fact.
Larimer County identifies Loveland as one of the municipalities located entirely within the county. Larimer County falls within the 8th Judicial District.
Where the district court sits
For Larimer County, the combined county and district courts are at the Larimer County Justice Center, 201 LaPorte Ave, Suite 100, Fort Collins, CO 80521. The proper court for a given lawsuit depends on the facts, and your home county and the insurer’s business locations can both bear on it.
The Level I trauma center in Loveland
UCHealth Medical Center of the Rockies, at 2500 Rocky Mountain Avenue, appears as a Level I trauma center on the state’s list of designated trauma facilities. If your insurer disputes a hospital bill, the chart from the place that treated you can help show what care you needed.
Fire reports
The Loveland Fire Rescue Authority was formed by the City of Loveland and the Loveland Rural Fire Protection District. Its report request page explains how to ask for records under the Colorado Open Records Act, which can matter when a fire claim turns on how the fire started.
Loveland bad faith disputes can grow out of situations like these:
The firm prepares each matter as if it will be tried.
Managing Partner Kevin Cheney holds membership in the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA).
Founded in Denver in 2016 as Cheney Galluzzi & Howard, the firm works from 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201.
Spanish speakers can reach us at (303) 835-9177.
Your policy, the insurer’s letters and emails, and the claim timeline come first.
The facts may support the statutory claim, the common-law claim, or both.
The insurer receives a written demand that lays out the problem.
That means claims-file materials, your documentation and, where useful, input from outside experts.
A Loveland case may belong in the district court for Larimer County, at the Larimer County Justice Center, but we first verify the venue for your situation.
That includes the unpaid benefit, statutory damages and attorney fees where applicable.
What a case is worth turns on the policy limits, your losses, and the insurer’s conduct. Any figure we discuss comes after we’ve read the claim file.
A claimant who proves unreasonable delay or denial may recover double the covered benefit plus reasonable attorney fees and court costs (C.R.S. 10-3-1116(1)). The jury instructions also say that paying an unreasonably delayed benefit before judgment doesn’t reduce the two-times award.
The jury instruction on damages covers:
Punitive damages and other remedies. Punitive damages are available in some cases, but a bad faith finding on its own doesn’t establish them, according to the jury instructions. The statutory action also doesn’t displace other statutory or common-law actions (C.R.S. 10-3-1116(4)).
When the file shows long gaps with no new information requested and no decision made, we put those gaps before the court.
An insurer may contest a fairly debatable claim, even if its denial later turns out to be mistaken. The jury instructions say that factor “weighs against a finding of bad faith” but, without more, isn’t outcome-determinative. A denial with no reasonable basis behind it wasn’t fairly debatable at all.
Colorado judges an insurer’s decision by the information it had when it decided, as the jury instructions explain citing Schultz v. GEICO Casualty Co. We gather what the insurer had in hand, including what you sent that it chose to set aside.
I wish I could leave more than 5 stars!
Grace Macaluso, 5-star Google review
Common law. Colorado’s jury instructions call common-law bad faith a tort and say it is barred under C.R.S. 13-80-102 “unless brought within two years” after the injury and its cause are known, or should have been known with reasonable diligence.
Statute. The Colorado Supreme Court held in Rooftop Restoration, Inc. v. American Family Mutual Insurance Co. that the one-year limit on penalty actions in C.R.S. 13-80-103(1)(d) doesn’t apply to an action brought under section 10-3-1116(1). Pinning down when your clock began takes a close look at the facts, so get your deadline confirmed by a lawyer.
Underinsured motorist coverage. Per the jury instructions, a bad faith claim for nonpayment of underinsured motorist benefits can’t accrue until you’ve obtained a judgment against, or settled with, the underinsured driver. A Loveland uninsured motorist lawyer can explain how that timing applies to your claim.
A bad faith insurance claim in Colorado challenges the way your own insurer handled a claim for benefits. By statute, the insurer can’t unreasonably delay or deny benefits it owes you, and it acts unreasonably when it has no reasonable basis (C.R.S. 10-3-1115). The common-law version adds proof that the insurer knew its conduct was unreasonable or recklessly disregarded that.
It can be under the statute, if the insurer refused part of a benefit it owed and had no reasonable basis for doing so. The statute covers unreasonable delay or denial of benefits owed to a first-party claimant. We compare the insurer’s estimate against your repair bids and the policy terms.
Colorado’s UIM statute says the coverage covers “the difference, if any, between the amount of the limits of any legal liability coverage and the amount of the damages sustained,” excluding exemplary damages, up to your policy’s limit (C.R.S. 10-4-609(1)(c)). Because it’s your own coverage, the bad faith statute can apply if the insurer unreasonably delays or denies it.
Under the statute, a successful claimant can recover two times the covered benefit, plus reasonable attorney fees and court costs (C.R.S. 10-3-1116). A common-law claim can add damages for economic and noneconomic losses the insurer’s conduct caused.
The answer depends on the facts, including where you live and where the insurer does business. For a Loveland resident that may be the district court for Larimer County, at the Larimer County Justice Center in Fort Collins, and we check before filing.
It can, because a health claim is a first-party claim for benefits. After exhausting administrative remedies, a person whose health, life or disability claim under a policy issued in Colorado was denied is entitled to de novo review in court and a jury trial (C.R.S. 10-3-1116(3)).
We don’t have a Loveland office. We represent Loveland clients from our Denver office at 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201. Call (303) 209-9395.
It's More Than Money.
A bad faith insurance attorney can sit down with your policy and the insurer’s letters and help you understand where the claim went wrong. Call (303) 209-9395 or send a message through the contact page to tell us about it.
A different kind of injury claim starts on our Loveland 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.
