A jury from Arapahoe County, Colorado ruled in our client’s favor last Friday, finding that American Family breached its contract, and unreasonably delayed and denied benefits owed under the policy. The Court will now impose treble damages, costs, attorney’s fees, and interest. See Dan Cronan v. American Family Insurance; District Court, Arapahoe County, Colorado; Division 202; Case No. 15CV32192.
Had the lightning strike claim been handled properly, back in June of 2014, the lawsuit would never have been necessary. Instead, our client was forced to hire a public adjuster, an engineer, and several hazardous material testing companies, on his own dime, to try and persuade the insurance company that the lightning strike had caused more than just superficial damage. When that failed to persuade the insurer, he hired us. We filed the lawsuit in late 2015, and took only two depositions before appearing ready for trial last week. It took the jury less than three hours to determine that American Family had not lived up to its end of the bargain, and unreasonably delayed and denied money it owed our client for living expenses. The judgment will end up being many multiples of what American Family told the jury the case was worth.
Our law firm makes insurance companies or corporate defendants that break the rules pay. And we don’t charge our clients a nickel for our services – we recover only when we succeed. This recent Colorado verdict is simply another example in a long list of matters we have handled for policyholders that were wrongfully denied the benefits of their insurance agreement. Under Colorado law, it is improper for an insurer to unreasonably delay or deny benefits owed under an insurance policy. We look forward to helping additional homeowners and business owners throughout the state of Colorado.