On June 24, 2019, the Colorado Supreme Court held that when a contract or insurance policy requires an “impartial” appraisal, the appraiser for a party cannot be an advocate for that party.[1] In this situation, the appraiser must be unbiased, disinterested, without prejudice, and unswayed by personal interest. Id. Owners Insurance Company (“Owners”) issued a […]
Colorado Construction Litigation Blog
On February 7th, Representative Garnett, with Senator Fenberg as the Senate sponsor, introduced HB 20-1290, concerning the ability of an insurer to use a failure-to-cooperate defense in an action in which the insured has made a claim for insurance coverage. If the bill were to pass, in order to plead or prove a failure-to-cooperate defense […]
On Tuesday, February 18th, the Colorado House Business Affairs & Labor Committee voted 10-0 to postpone indefinitely House Bill 1046. If it had been enacted, HB 1046 would have required, for all for all construction contracts of at least $150,000: A property owner to make partial payments to the contractor of any amount due under the […]
Here is a rundown of the latest goings on at the Colorado State Capitol: SB 20-138 – Concerning increased consumer protection for homeowners seeking relief for construction defects. As previously discussed, if enacted, Senate Bill 20-138 would: Extend Colorado’s statute of repose for construction defects from 6+2 years to 10+2 years; Require tolling of the […]
NEWS RELEASE February 12, 2020 METRO AREA MAYORS URGE NO VOTE ON SB 93 AS WRITTEN Hancock: “Now is not the time to shift Colorado into reverse and undo the great work this General Assembly has done to promote attainable housing.” Denver, CO – Today, Denver area mayors joined the chorus of business organizations, housing […]
On January 27th, Senator Robert Rodriguezintroduced SB 20-138 into the Colorado Legislature. The bill has been assigned to the Senate Judiciary Committee and has not yet been scheduled for its first hearing in that committee. In short, Senate Bill 20-138, if enacted, would: 1) Extend Colorado’s statute of repose for construction defects from 6+2 years […]
By David M. McLain The 2020 Colorado legislative session started on Wednesday, January 8th. It seems like there will be plenty of issues this year to which home builders will want to pay close attention. On January 13th, Senators Fenberg, Foote, and Jackson sponsored SB 20-093, known as the “Consumer and Employee Dispute Resolution Fairness Act.” […]
With increasing frequency in the construction defect cases we defend, we are seeing commercial general liability insurance policies with “subcontractor warranty” endorsements. Also known as contractor or subcontractor special conditions, these endorsements could have severe and negative consequences for builders that do not comply with their requirements. In researching for this article, I reviewed six different endorsements […]
Last April, the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado decided in an action for declaratory relief that the Colorado Construction Defect Action Reform Act (“CDARA”) does not afford insurers the right to separate notice, beyond that of the claimant to the construction professional, of their duty to defend the insured. This case, Auto-Owners Insurance […]
Higgins, Hopkins, McLain & Roswell is pleased to announce that Ben Volpe has joined the firm as an Associate. He is a graduate of the Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law, graduating cum laude. Mr. Volpe has experience working as a federal contractor supporting the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. […]
