In Conrad v. Owners Ins. Co., No. 20–cv–02173–KMT, 2021 WL 5280188 (D. Colo. November 12, 2021) (Tafoya, USMJ), a federal Magistrate Judge applied the federal standard for admissibility of expert testimony to a proffered expert in an insurance case: Reliability, not correctness.
The Court described the proffered expert as an experienced attorney, and a former Colorado Insurance Commissioner. Conrad, 2021 WL 5280188, at *1.
The witness will be permitted to testify to insurance industry standards. Conrad, 2021 WL 5280188, at *2.
However, the witness will not be allowed to testify to legal conclusions. This includes the expert's testimony about Colorado's version of the Unfair Claim Settlement Practices Act. "While [the proffered expert] is permitted to testify as to insurance industry standards and may testify that defendant's conduct did not conform with those standards, he may not apply legal standards from caselaw or statutes to state an opinion that defendant's conduct violated caselaw or statutes." Conrad, 2021 WL 5280188, at *3.
Finally, the witness will be permitted to testify on the duty of good faith and fair dealing implied in the Underinsured Motorist insurance contract at bar, even though bad faith and unfair dealing was not alleged as a cause of action separate from breach of the UIM contract at issue. Conrad, 2021 WL 5280188, at *4.
Reliability, not correctness. That is the standard for admitting expert opinions into evidence in federal court, including in insurance cases.
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