Nibert v. Geico Casualty Co

Citations

• 2017 COA 23

Syllabus

Bad Faith—CRS § 10-3-1116—Jury Instructions—Statutory Delay—Attorney Fees. Nibert and her husband were injured when a car collided with their motorcycle. As relevant to this appeal, Nibert had an underinsured motorist (UIM) policy through Geico Casualty Co. (Geico) with a $25,000 coverage limit. Geico offered Nibert $1,500 to settle her claim. Nibert sued Geico for breach of contract, common law bad faith, and statutory delay under CRS § 10-3-1116. After discovery and before trial, Geico paid Nibert the $25,000 UIM coverage limit to settle the breach of contract claim. A jury returned verdicts awarding Nibert $33,250 in noneconomic damages on her bad faith claim and $25,000 for her statutory delay claim. The trial court entered judgment on the jury's verdict for the bad faith claim and judgment of $50,000 for damages on the statutory delay claim. It also granted Nibert's motion for attorney fees in the amount of $118,875.30. On appeal, Geico argued that the trial court failed to adequately instruct the jury on its theory of defense that challenges to debatable claims are reasonable. The trial court relied on the Colorado pattern jury instructions governing common law bad faith and first-party statutory claims. While it did not accept Geico's tendered instructions on these issues, it allowed Geico to present expert testimony regarding the \fairly debatable\ issue and to argue its theory of defense to the jury. The Court of Appeals concluded that the instructions, as given, adequately instructed the jury on the applicable law and the parties were afforded ample opportunity to present their case theories to the jury. The trial court's ruling was neither manifestly arbitrary, unreasonable, or unfair, nor a misapplication of the law. Geico then argued that the trial court erred in awarding Nibert recovery of two times her UIM benefit as a penalty. CRS § 10-3-1116(1) provides a first-party claimant the right to bring an action for \two times the covered benefit.\ Geico ar