Colorado stands to the contrary of most jurisdictions that recognize a case for personal liability of insurance adjusters when claims under insurance policies are delayed or completely unpaid; Colorado does not recognize such personal liability.
Colorado's position comes because of a statute which prohibits unreasonable delay or denial of an insurance claim by "a person engaged in the business of insurance," Colo. Rev. Stat. § 10-3-1115 (2021), and under another statute which provides a cause of action for the unreasonable delay or denial of a claim for insurance benefits prohibited by the first statute. Colo. Rev. Stat. § 10-3-1116 (2021). The Colorado Supreme Court resolved this issue in its answer to a question certified from the United States District Court for the District of Colorado, in Skillett v. Allstate Fire & Cas. Ins. Co., 505 P.3d 664, ¶ 1, at p. 665 (Colo. 2022):
Specifically, the certified question asks:
Whether an employee of an insurance company who adjusts an insured's claim in the course of employment may for that reason be liable personally for statutory bad faith under Colorado Revised Statutes Sections 10-3-1115 and -1116 (“Statutes”).
Given the plain statutory language, we answer that question in the negative. An action for unreasonably delayed or denied insurance benefits under Colorado law may be brought against an insurer, not against an individual adjuster acting solely as an employee of the insurer.
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