After a Denver Crash, Her Own Insurer Refused to Pay the Underinsured Motorist Coverage She Bought
Result Snapshot
| Case type | Underinsured motorist (UIM) claim with a statutory unreasonable delay and denial claim |
|---|---|
| Injury | Catastrophic cervical and lumbar spine injuries requiring multiple surgeries |
| Location | Interstate 25 at 20th Street, Denver (City and County of Denver) |
| Resolution | Settled in 2025 after suit was filed in federal court and the case was prepared for a jury |
| Recovery | $325,000 |
| Attorneys | Todd A. Travis and Jordan Travis |
| Year | 2025 |
Introduction
She did everything a responsible driver is supposed to do. She wore her seatbelt. She paid her premiums year after year, including for the underinsured motorist coverage she hoped she would never have to use. Then a rear-end crash on Interstate 25 changed her body and her life, and the insurance company she had paid for decades decided it would rather fight her than pay her. Rampart Injury Lawyers represented her, filed suit in federal court, and pushed the case to the edge of a jury trial. It settled in 2025 for $325,000.
This was an underinsured motorist case, which is a particular kind of betrayal. The driver who caused the crash did not carry enough insurance to cover the harm he caused. Our client had bought her own coverage for exactly that situation. When she turned to her insurer, the company that was supposed to stand behind her refused to pay the benefit she had purchased.
What follows is how the case unfolded, what made it difficult, and how our firm built the pressure that brought it to resolution. Names and identifying details are withheld to protect our client’s privacy.
What Happened
Our client was a restrained passenger in her family’s pickup truck, traveling southbound on Interstate 25 near the 20th Street interchange in Denver. A smaller car struck the pickup from behind. She was belted in. She did nothing to cause the collision and nothing to make her injuries worse. In the language of an insurance claim, this should have been straightforward. It was not.
Injuries and Medical Impact
The crash left our client with spine injuries that surgery could manage but never undo. She underwent cervical spine surgery, then a second operation only two days later to correct a complication. Lumbar surgery followed, then revision surgeries. In all, she went through more than half a dozen spine procedures and fought off a post-surgical infection.
The human cost reached far beyond the operating room. She came to rely on opioid pain medication, a cane, and help from her family to get through an ordinary day. She developed foot drop. She lost control of basic bodily functions. In her own words, her right side “hardly works at all.” She had been a lifelong competitive show rider, and she has not been on a horse since. By the time the case was in litigation, her medical bills had passed one million dollars.
Legal and Insurance Challenges
The at-fault driver carried only a small bodily injury policy, and those limits were tendered quickly. That money came nowhere near her medical bills, let alone the rest of what the crash took from her. This is the precise gap that underinsured motorist coverage exists to fill, and our client had paid for that coverage for decades.
Her own insurer refused to pay it. That refusal is the heart of the case. A first-party insurer owes duties to its own policyholder, and Colorado law gives the policyholder a remedy when a carrier unreasonably delays or denies a valid claim for benefits. The challenge was to prove both the full extent of her damages and the unreasonableness of the carrier’s conduct, against a company with every incentive to keep its wall up.
How Rampart Built the Case
Our firm filed suit in federal court, the United States District Court for the District of Colorado, and pursued two claims at once. The first was a breach of contract claim for the underinsured motorist benefit the policy promised. The second was a statutory claim under Colorado’s unreasonable delay and denial law, which allows a policyholder to recover two times the covered benefit plus reasonable attorney fees and court costs when an insurer mishandles a first-party claim. See C.R.S. sections 10-3-1115 and 10-3-1116.
From there the work was methodical. We deposed witnesses and locked in their testimony. We marshaled expert testimony on the nature of her injuries and on the future she now faces, so that the record told the whole story rather than a discounted version of it. We mediated the dispute. When mediation did not end it, we moved the case through a federal pretrial conference and onto the jury trial calendar. The message to the carrier was simple. This claim was going in front of a jury unless the company paid what it owed.
The Result
The case settled in 2025 for $325,000. Several factors drove the resolution: the documented severity and permanence of her injuries, the more than one million dollars in medical bills, the carrier’s exposure under the statutory claim, and a case that was ready for trial rather than still being built. Every case turns on its own facts, and a past result does not promise a similar outcome in any other matter. What this result reflects is what trial-ready preparation can do when a carrier is betting that a policyholder will give up first.
Colorado Injury Law Takeaway
If you are hurt by a driver who does not carry enough insurance, your own underinsured motorist coverage is supposed to step in. People often ask whether their own insurance company can deny a UIM claim, and the uncomfortable answer is that carriers do exactly that, sometimes by delay and sometimes by outright refusal. Colorado does not leave policyholders without a remedy. Under C.R.S. sections 10-3-1115 and 10-3-1116, a first-party claimant whose benefits are unreasonably delayed or denied may bring an action to recover reasonable attorney fees, court costs, and two times the covered benefit. The Colorado Supreme Court has held that where benefits were unreasonably delayed and later paid, the insured may recover the delayed benefit plus two times the covered benefit on top of it, for a total of three times the covered benefit. See American Family Mutual Insurance Co. v. Barriga, 2018 CO 42.
The practical lesson is that the policy you pay for is only as strong as your ability to enforce it. Documenting the full scope of an injury, including the future cost of living with it, is often what separates a lowball offer from a fair recovery.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, and they do. A UIM claim is a first-party claim against your own carrier, which means the company that collected your premiums is the same company deciding whether to pay you. Colorado law gives you a remedy if that carrier unreasonably delays or denies a valid claim.
Underinsured motorist coverage is part of your own auto policy. It applies when an at-fault driver causes your injuries but does not carry enough liability insurance to cover them. Your UIM coverage is meant to fill the gap between the at-fault driver’s limits and the harm you actually suffered.
Under C.R.S. sections 10-3-1115 and 10-3-1116, you may recover reasonable attorney fees, court costs, and two times the covered benefit. That is in addition to the benefits owed under your policy, which is why a carrier’s total exposure can be significant.
Not always. Many claims resolve before suit. But when a carrier refuses to pay what it owes, filing suit and preparing the case for trial is often what changes the conversation. In this case, the insurer paid only after the matter was set for a jury.
Talk to a Colorado Injury Lawyer
If you were seriously injured by an underinsured driver in Denver or the surrounding area, and your own insurance company is fighting you instead of helping you, you do not have to face that alone. Rampart Injury Lawyers represents seriously injured people across Denver and the Front Range in underinsured motorist and insurance bad faith claims. Call (303) 766-8766 for a free consultation. You pay no attorney fee unless we obtain a recovery for you.
Disclaimers
Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome. Every case is different and is decided on its own facts.
This page describes the result of a specific matter and is provided for general informational purposes only. It is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship.
This is attorney advertising. Rampart Injury Lawyers is a trade name of Travis Legal Offices, LLC. Todd A. Travis is responsible for the content of this communication. 333 Perry St #203, Castle Rock, CO 80104 | (303) 766-8766.
Rampart Injury Lawyers handles personal injury matters on a contingent fee basis. You pay no attorney fee unless we obtain a recovery. Clients may be responsible for case costs as set out in a written fee agreement.
