October – 2019

Jennifer White and Debra DeRee won summary judgment as to all of Plaintiff’s claims with regard to the matter entitled Ronald Lindsey v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. a/k/a State Farm Insurance Co. in Las Animas County, case number 2017CV30075.  The case involved the alleged theft of Plaintiff’s 2013 Chrysler 300, which was insured by State Farm, in Las Vegas, Nevada.   The undisputed evidence showed that (1) the title presented with the vehicle for sale on the same date that Plaintiff claimed it was stolen lists Plaintiff as the seller and contained a signature using Plaintiff’s nickname; (2) a law enforcement investigator determined that the vehicle had not been stolen; (3) Plaintiff had reported two vehicles stolen prior to the alleged loss; (4) the vehicle was operated with a properly coded key fob at the time of the alleged theft; (5) despite Plaintiff claiming that one of the two key fobs issued to him at the time of the vehicle purchase was destroyed down a garbage disposal, Plaintiff was able to produce one key fob to State Farm and the other was found with the current owner of the vehicle (thus accounting for both original key fobs); and (6) a handwriting expert determined that it was “highly probable” that Plaintiff had signed the title on the date that he claimed it was stolen.

Plaintiff’s Complaint alleged claims for:  (1) Breach of Contract; (2) Bad Faith Breach of Insurance Contract; (3) Unreasonable Conduct or Position; and (4) Statutory Violations of the Unfair Settlement Claim Practices Act (claiming delay-denial statute damages).  State Farm denied such allegations, asserting that the vehicle was not stolen and, instead, had been sold by Plaintiff and sought summary judgment on all issues.   The trial court agreed with State Farm and specifically found that: (1) it was reasonable for State Farm to challenge Plaintiff’s claim and that their handling and denial of Plaintiff’s claims was reasonable as a matter of law, including noting their compliance with Division of Insurance Amended Regulation 5-1-14; and (2) Plaintiff made material misrepresentations to the insurance company as to the key fobs and this, in combination with the fact that it was “highly probable” that Plaintiff had signed the title as seller, made it clear to the trial court that reasonable minds could not differ that the vehicle was not stolen without any involvement on Plaintiff’s part.   The trial court found that Plaintiff’s misrepresentations voided the policy and granted summary judgment in favor of the insurance company on all claims, finding that, as a matter of law, a reasonable jury could not return a verdict for Plaintiff.


Frank Patterson and Gordon Queenan recently obtained a defense verdict on behalf of State Farm following an eight-day jury trial in Lawrence Turcotte v. State Farm Fire and Casualty Company. The jury quickly returned a defense verdict, concluding plaintiff was responsible for the fire which destroyed his residence.

Plaintiff claimed that an intentionally set fire damaged his home and personal property on October 2-3, 2016.  Plaintiff claimed that he had hired an electrician to work on his home while he was out of state in Michigan.  He claimed the electrician (who could not be located or identified) found a moneybox in the house with $17,000 in it, stole the money, and set a fire in the house to conceal his theft.  State Farm denied plaintiff’s claim, alleging plaintiff had caused or procured the fire. Plaintiff said he was 1,000 miles away and denied he had opportunity or motive for the fire. Plaintiff sued for unpaid contract benefits of $240,000 for property damage and $72,000 for personal property; $85,925.17 for asbestos mitigation; $191,796.83 for house repairs; $19,375.18 for fire mitigation.  Unreasonable Delay/Denial Damages of $624,000 (plus attorney fees); Unspecified Bad Faith Damages.

State Farm denied there was any electrician.  State Farm alleged that plaintiff was trying to do electrical work himself to bypass the city meter so he could start a marijuana grow operation in his basement.  When he messed up the electrical work and the house was without power, he inexplicably decided to drive to Michigan to see his sick mother.  He first paid for a hotel for other residents of the house so it would be empty.  Before he left town to drive to Michigan, he moved furniture to the middle of the living room, surrounded it with combustibles like cloth, towels, paper, and cardboard boxes, and left multiple canisters of butane and propane and cans of camping fuel in the room.  He connected an extension cord from a neighbor’s house to a heat lamp which was clamped onto the furniture.  Ignitable liquid and gas containers were found around the heat lamp. During expert discovery, a melted timing device was found in the debris connected to the lamp.  State Farm alleged the timing device and heat lamp provided the opportunity to start the fire and undermined his alibi of being 1,000 miles away.  State Farm also alleged plaintiff did not have $17,000 in cash in his house, arguing that he had spent almost all of his “nest-egg” over the preceding 4 years since his retirement.

At trial, witness testimony established that the alleged electrician did not, in fact, exist and that Mr. Turcotte had been working on his own electric meter and breaker box days before the fire. The jury entered a verdict for State Farm on the basis that Mr. Turcotte was not entitled to insurance benefits because he had intentionally started the fire at his residence.

Plaintiff’s final demand before trial was $1,000,000.  State Farm offered a mutual dismissal walk-away.

February – 2018

Frank Patterson and Karl Chambers won a summary judgment motion in a declaratory relief action entitled Viking Insurance Co v. Mark Achter; Monica Achter; Little Willie J. Ortiz, II; Darrell J. Ortiz in Pueblo County, case number 2017 CV 030215.  The case involved an excluded driver who was involved in the accident.  Because the Complaint in the underlying bodily injury suit identified the excluded driver as the operator of the vehicle at the time of the accident, the declaratory relief action could be pursued without awaiting the conclusion of the underlying suit. The trial court agreed the exclusion was consistent with Colorado law and Viking was not obligated to defend or indemnify for the accident.

April – 2017

There have been recent changes to the Rules of Civil Procedure regarding disclosure obligations and discovery requests. Requests for disclosure or discovery must be narrowly tailored and proportional to the needs of the case.  In light of these changes, Frank Patterson recently obtained a favorable Order for his client in a bad faith case precluding extensive discovery of what has come to be thought of as “institutional discovery.” The Order can be reviewed here.

In a declaratory relief action filed by the insurer for failure to cooperate after the insured entered into a Nunn Agreement, Frank Patterson and Lindsay Dunn obtained an order denying the defendants’ motion to dismiss. The defendants argued that Nunn Agreements are allowed under Colorado law and therefore, cannot be a failure to cooperate. The trial court denied the motion holding that the case law does not automatically allow for such agreements and that an insured may enter into such an agreement when the insurer has acted unreasonably or in the face of a colorable bad faith claim.  This case will have significant ramifications for insurers’ ability to challenge Nunn Agreements.

Karl Chambers obtained a defense verdict in the case of Shaun Olguin v. Louis Chacon dba Louie’s Barber Shop in Boulder County. The plaintiff claimed that he was injured while receiving a haircut at Louie’s Barber Shop and developed a staph infection that required medical treatment, including surgery.  Karl defended Mr. Chacon on the theory that the plaintiff was never in the barber shop on the date that he claimed, but even if he was, the staph infection was not caused by conditions at the barber shop, but rather was due to a pre-existing medical condition that plaintiff had.  The jury returned a defense verdict in favor of Mr. Chacon finding that the plaintiff’s alleged injuries were not caused by any negligence of Mr. Chacon or Louie’s Barber Shop.

December

Hillary Patterson obtained summary judgment for a client that paid work loss PIP benefits to its insured following a motor vehicle accident that occurred in Michigan (State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Timika Thomas, 16CV30578). The insured subsequently recovered duplicate Social Security Disability Insurance benefits, but refused to reimburse the insurer pursuant to Michigan law.  This case involved the application of Colorado’s choice of law principles, Michigan insurance law, and Michigan law governing breach of contract.