{"id":895178,"date":"2018-11-08T12:26:51","date_gmt":"2018-11-08T19:26:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?p=895178"},"modified":"2018-11-08T12:28:32","modified_gmt":"2018-11-08T19:28:32","slug":"colorado-supreme-court-clarifies-bad-faith-standard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/colorado-supreme-court-clarifies-bad-faith-standard\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado Supreme Court Clarifies Bad Faith Standard"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ashley Harris | Property Insurance Coverage Law Blog | November 7, 2018<\/p>\n

A recent Colorado Supreme Court opinion in\u00a0Schultz v. GEICO Casualty Company<\/em>, clarifies the standard for bad faith in Colorado. In the opinion, the court discusses both claims for common law bad faith and statutory unreasonable delay or denial of benefits.<\/p>\n

Most notably, the court concluded that the insurance company\u2019s conduct must be evaluated based on the evidence before it when it made its coverage decision, and that the insurance company may not create new evidence to try to support its earlier coverage decision.<\/p>\n

This means that when defending against a bad faith claim by attempting to show it acted reasonably, the insurance company can only present the information it considered at the time it made the decision to delay or deny the claim.<\/p>\n

The opinion also restates the standard for common law bad faith, which requires the insured to \u201cestablish that the insurer acted unreasonably and with knowledge of or reckless disregard for the fact that no reasonable basis existed for denying the claim.\u201d\u00a0Travelers Ins. Co. v. Savio<\/em>, 706 P.2d 1258, 1274 (Colo. 1985)<\/a>.<\/p>\n

With regard to a statutory claim, Section 10-3-1115, C.R.S. (2018) provides, in part:<\/p>\n

(1)(a) A person engaged in the business of insurance shall not unreasonably delay or deny payment of a claim for benefits owed to or on behalf of ay first-party claimant.<\/p>\n

. . . .<\/p>\n

(2)\u2026for the purposes of an action brought pursuant to this section and section 10-3-1116, an insurer\u2019s delay or denial was unreasonable if the insurer delayed or denied authorizing payment of a covered benefit without a reasonable basis for that action.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The court confirmed what both the Colorado Court of Appeals and federal courts interpreting Colorado law have consistently recognized, which is that the proof of a statutory claim differs from the proof required in a common law bad faith claim:<\/p>\n

[W]hereas a common law claim requires proof that the insurer acted unreasonably and that it knew or recklessly disregarded the fact that its conduct was unreasonable, \u2018the only element at issue in the statutory claim is whether an insurer denied benefits without a reasonable basis.\u2019 (Citations omitted).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This opinion is great for Colorado policyholders, because it limits insurance companies to the information they had at the time they delayed or denied the claim, prohibiting them from hiring \u201clitigation experts\u201d to bolster an unreasonable delay or denial of the claim.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ashley Harris | Property Insurance Coverage Law Blog | November 7, 2018 A recent Colorado Supreme Court opinion in\u00a0Schultz v. GEICO Casualty Company, clarifies the standard for bad faith in Colorado. In the opinion, the court discusses both claims for common law bad faith and statutory unreasonable delay or denial of benefits. Most notably, the… Continue reading Colorado Supreme Court Clarifies Bad Faith Standard<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[140],"tags":[9895,140,120],"class_list":["post-895178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bad-faith","tag-advise-consult","tag-bad-faith","tag-colorado","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nColorado Supreme Court Clarifies Bad Faith Standard - Advise & Consult, Inc.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Colorado Supreme Court opinion clarifies the standard for bad faith in Colorado. In the opinion, the court discusses both claims for common law bad faith\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/colorado-supreme-court-clarifies-bad-faith-standard\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Colorado Supreme Court Clarifies Bad Faith Standard - Advise & Consult, Inc.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Colorado Supreme Court opinion clarifies the standard for bad faith in Colorado. In the opinion, the court discusses both claims for common law bad faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/colorado-supreme-court-clarifies-bad-faith-standard\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Advise & Consult, Inc.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Advise-Consult-Inc-126949043996790\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-11-08T19:26:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-11-08T19:28:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@adviseconsult\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@adviseconsult\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/colorado-supreme-court-clarifies-bad-faith-standard\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/colorado-supreme-court-clarifies-bad-faith-standard\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0a11abe008083d5fb19c2b0feefe7bd7\"},\"headline\":\"Colorado Supreme Court Clarifies Bad Faith Standard\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-11-08T19:26:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-11-08T19:28:32+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/colorado-supreme-court-clarifies-bad-faith-standard\/\"},\"wordCount\":406,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Advise & Consult\",\"Bad Faith\",\"colorado\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Bad Faith\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/colorado-supreme-court-clarifies-bad-faith-standard\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/colorado-supreme-court-clarifies-bad-faith-standard\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/colorado-supreme-court-clarifies-bad-faith-standard\/\",\"name\":\"Colorado Supreme Court Clarifies Bad Faith Standard - Advise & Consult, Inc.\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-11-08T19:26:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-11-08T19:28:32+00:00\",\"description\":\"Colorado Supreme Court opinion clarifies the standard for bad faith in Colorado. In the opinion, the court discusses both claims for common law bad faith\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/colorado-supreme-court-clarifies-bad-faith-standard\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Advise & Consult, Inc.\",\"description\":\"Construction Expert Witnesses\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Advise & Consult\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/AC-Red-Logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/AC-Red-Logo.png\",\"width\":162,\"height\":75,\"caption\":\"Advise & Consult\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Advise-Consult-Inc-126949043996790\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/adviseconsult\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company-beta\/204526\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/MrConstructionExpert\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0a11abe008083d5fb19c2b0feefe7bd7\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b01e71b7acadd7657af782b7ad1a30cc?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b01e71b7acadd7657af782b7ad1a30cc?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.expertwitnessinconstruction.com\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Colorado Supreme Court Clarifies Bad Faith Standard - Advise & Consult, Inc.","description":"Colorado Supreme Court opinion clarifies the standard for bad faith in Colorado. In the opinion, the court discusses both claims for common law bad faith","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/colorado-supreme-court-clarifies-bad-faith-standard\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Colorado Supreme Court Clarifies Bad Faith Standard - Advise & Consult, Inc.","og_description":"Colorado Supreme Court opinion clarifies the standard for bad faith in Colorado. In the opinion, the court discusses both claims for common law bad faith","og_url":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/colorado-supreme-court-clarifies-bad-faith-standard\/","og_site_name":"Advise & Consult, Inc.","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Advise-Consult-Inc-126949043996790\/","article_published_time":"2018-11-08T19:26:51+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-11-08T19:28:32+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@adviseconsult","twitter_site":"@adviseconsult","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/colorado-supreme-court-clarifies-bad-faith-standard\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/colorado-supreme-court-clarifies-bad-faith-standard\/"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0a11abe008083d5fb19c2b0feefe7bd7"},"headline":"Colorado Supreme Court Clarifies Bad Faith Standard","datePublished":"2018-11-08T19:26:51+00:00","dateModified":"2018-11-08T19:28:32+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/colorado-supreme-court-clarifies-bad-faith-standard\/"},"wordCount":406,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#organization"},"keywords":["Advise & Consult","Bad Faith","colorado"],"articleSection":["Bad Faith"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/colorado-supreme-court-clarifies-bad-faith-standard\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/colorado-supreme-court-clarifies-bad-faith-standard\/","url":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/colorado-supreme-court-clarifies-bad-faith-standard\/","name":"Colorado Supreme Court Clarifies Bad Faith Standard - Advise & Consult, Inc.","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2018-11-08T19:26:51+00:00","dateModified":"2018-11-08T19:28:32+00:00","description":"Colorado Supreme Court opinion clarifies the standard for bad faith in Colorado. In the opinion, the court discusses both claims for common law bad faith","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/colorado-supreme-court-clarifies-bad-faith-standard\/"]}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/","name":"Advise & Consult, Inc.","description":"Construction Expert Witnesses","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Advise & Consult","url":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/AC-Red-Logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/AC-Red-Logo.png","width":162,"height":75,"caption":"Advise & Consult"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Advise-Consult-Inc-126949043996790\/","https:\/\/x.com\/adviseconsult","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company-beta\/204526\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/MrConstructionExpert"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0a11abe008083d5fb19c2b0feefe7bd7","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b01e71b7acadd7657af782b7ad1a30cc?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b01e71b7acadd7657af782b7ad1a30cc?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.expertwitnessinconstruction.com"]}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2ztG6-3KSm","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=895178"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895178\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":895179,"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895178\/revisions\/895179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=895178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=895178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=895178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}