Shawn E. McDermott - Blog

The Law Office of Shawn E. McDermott LLC recently won a Colorado appellate case on behalf of its clients relating to uninsured/underinsured (UM/UIM) automobile insurance benefits. In this case, our clients, the Meza family members, had pursued a wrongful death claim under six different underinsured motorist policies issued to various family members of the Meza family. The claims were based on the tragic death of the family matriarch, Lucia Meza, who died in an automobile accident in 2000.

This insurance coverage denial case was initiated in 2002 by State Farm Insurance against the Mezas and three other insurance companies including Farmers, American Family and American Standard. Each of these carriers had denied the UIM claims of the Meza family members for a variety of reasons. The claims against State Farm and Farmers were resolved a few years ago. The final piece of the puzzle against American Family and American Standard was placed by the Colorado Court of Appeals with its decision on July 3, 2008 which affirmed the decision of the trial court from two years earlier. These two companies had improperly and in violation of public policy defined the term “relative” in its insurance policies in such a way to violate Colorado law. After six years of litigation, the Court of Appeals finally agreed with the legal arguments put forth by the Mezas and our office.

As the case was not published pursuant to Rule 35(f) of the Colorado appellate rules, it is reproduced below for interested readers: (more…)