Colorado Accident & Injury Law Part VI: Changes in Uninsured Motorist Coverage
(c) The coverage described in paragraph (a) of this subsection (1) shall be in addition to any legal liability coverage and shall cover the difference, if any, between the amount of the limits of any legal liability coverage and the amount of the damages sustained, excluding exemplary damages, up to the maximum amount of the coverage obtained pursuant to this section. A single policy or endorsement for uninsured or underinsured motor vehicle coverage issued for a single premium covering multiple vehicles may be limited to applying once per accident. The amount of the coverage available pursuant to this section shall not be reduced by a set off from any other coverage, including, but not limited to, legal liability insurance, medical payments coverage, health insurance, or other uninsured or underinsured motor vehicle insurance.
The statute changed the applicability of Uninsured and uninsured motorist in two substantial ways.
- It allows for the insured to use the uninsured motorist policy to be added to any available liability insurance of the tortfeasor. An example would be an insured whose total damages were $50,000, with a tortfeasor liability policy of $25,000 and a policy of uninsured motorist of $25,000. Before the statute was passed, the insured would have been limited to only $25,000 recover and after the statute the recovery would be $50,000.
- Before the statute was passed an insured would have been unable to stack available UM policies if the policies themselves contained an anti-stacking provision. Now those anti-stacking provisions would be held invalid under the terms of the statute.
Michael established The Sawaya Law Firm in 1977 and built it into one of the largest personal injury law firms in Colorado, with more than 20 lawyers and 80 staff members serving clients from five offices located in Denver, Greeley and Colorado Springs. Throughout its history, the firm has stayed true to its 12 Core Values, which emphasize excellence in advocacy and a commitment to providing outstanding client service. Michael studied sociology and economics as an undergraduate student at The Colorado College, and he earned his law degree from the Texas Tech University School of Law. In addition to being involved in several legal and community organizations, Michael enjoys playing music and cooking, and he has written a book on spiritual matters.
