Owners Ins. Co. v. Dakota Station II Condo. Ass'n, Inc.

444 P.3d 784
CourtColorado Court of Appeals
DecidedJuly 27, 2017
DocketCourt of Appeals No. 16CA0733
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 444 P.3d 784 (Owners Ins. Co. v. Dakota Station II Condo. Ass'n, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Colorado Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Owners Ins. Co. v. Dakota Station II Condo. Ass'n, Inc., 444 P.3d 784 (Colo. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinions

Opinion by JUDGE RICHMAN

¶ 1 Plaintiff, Owners Insurance Company (Owners), appeals the trial court's judgment denying its petition to vacate an appraisal award. We affirm.

I. Background

¶ 2 Owners issued a property damage insurance policy to Dakota Station II Condominium Association, Inc. (Dakota). Wind and hail storms damaged buildings in the residential community owned by Dakota. The parties combined the losses into a single insurance claim but disagreed about the total amount of damages.

¶ 3 The parties then invoked the insurance policy's appraisal provision. Each party selected an appraiser. When the appraisers submitted proposed awards of differing amounts, they nominated a neutral umpire as provided in the insurance policy.

¶ 4 In calculating a final award of approximately $3 million, the umpire adopted four damage estimates from Owners' appraiser, Mark Burns, and two estimates from Dakota's appraiser, Laura Haber. Burns disagreed with the final award and declined to sign the final determination of costs. However, the umpire and Haber agreed and signed the award, and Owners paid Dakota.

¶ 5 Dakota later sued Owners in federal court, Dakota Station II Condo. Ass'n, Inc. v. Auto-Owners Ins. Co. , No. 14-CV-2839-RM-NYW, 2015 WL 6591888 (D. Colo. Oct. 30, 2015) (unpublished opinion), for breach of contract and unreasonable delay in paying insurance benefits. During discovery in the federal suit, Owners learned several facts about Haber that it alleges demonstrate she *787was not an impartial appraiser as required by statute and by the insurance policy.

¶ 6 Owners then filed a petition to vacate the appraisal award under section 13-22-223, C.R.S. 2016, of the Colorado Uniform Arbitration Act (CUAA). Following a hearing, the trial court denied the petition in an oral ruling on March 11, 2016.1

II. Timeliness of Motion to Vacate

¶ 7 Dakota initially contends Owners failed to timely file a "motion" to vacate within ninety-one days of learning of its basis for vacating the award as required by section 13-22-223(2) because Owners' filing was captioned a "petition" rather than a "motion." We disagree. While the CUAA refers to a "motion" to vacate, rather than a "petition," the substance of the pleading, and not its title, governs. Hawkins v. State Comp. Ins. Auth. , 790 P.2d 893, 894 (Colo. App. 1990). We conclude that Owners' petition satisfied the statutory requirement for a timely motion to vacate the award.

III. Appraiser Impartiality Under the CUAA

¶ 8 Owners contends the trial court erred when it did not analyze the insurance policy's appraisal dispute provision, as well as the hiring and conduct of Haber, under the CUAA's standards for a neutral arbitrator in section 13-22-211(2), C.R.S. 2016. We find no error because the policy does not incorporate, and the parties' stipulation was not sufficiently specific to require application of, the CUAA's standards, in particular section 13-22-211(2).

¶ 9 The appraisal provision of the policy states:

If we and you disagree on the value of the property or the amount of loss, either may make written demand for an appraisal of the loss. In this event, each party will select a competent and impartial appraiser . The two appraisers will select an umpire. If they cannot agree, either may request that the selection be made by a judge of a court having jurisdiction. The appraisers will state separately the value of the property and amount of loss. If they fail to agree, they will submit their differences to the umpire. A decision agreed to by any two will be binding.

(Emphasis added.)

¶ 10 At the hearing, the parties initially stipulated orally that the CUAA applies to their appraisal dispute. The trial court's order did not state whether it was applying any of the CUAA provisions. The UAA provides the parties with choices to be made regarding whether to have party arbitrators or impartial arbitrators. Because the parties' stipulation here did not specify whether the appraisers were to be treated as arbitrators, and if so, whether they were to be held to the statutory standard for impartial arbitrators, the UAA sections regarding disclosures to be made by impartial arbitrators did not apply. See sections 13-22-211 and 13-22-212, C.R.S. 2016.

¶ 11 Because of these ambiguities, Owners has not established that, even if Dakota's appraiser violated the CUAA, reversal would be required. Also, at least one other court has concluded an identical appraisal provision was not subject to the CUAA. Auto-Owners Ins. Co. v. Summit Park , 129 F.Supp.3d 1150, 1152-55 (D. Colo. 2015) (applying Colorado law).

IV. Appraiser Impartiality Under Insurance Policy

¶ 12 Whether Haber was an "impartial appraiser" under the insurance policy turns on the meaning of that term, which we must construe.

A. Standard of Review

¶ 13 We review the interpretation of contracts de novo.

*788Fibreglas Fabricators, Inc. v. Kylberg , 799 P.2d 371, 374 (Colo. 1990).

¶ 14 The primary goal of contract interpretation is to give effect to the intent of the parties. Ad Two, Inc. v. City & Cty. of Denver , 9 P.3d 373, 376 (Colo. 2000). We determine the parties' intent by looking to the plain and generally accepted meaning of the contractual language. Copper Mountain, Inc. v. Indus. Sys., Inc. , 208 P.3d 692, 697 (Colo. 2009).

¶ 15 "The meaning and effect of a contract are to be determined from a review of the entire instrument, not merely from isolated clauses or phrases. A contract should be interpreted to harmonize and, if possible, to give effect to all its provisions." First Christian Assembly of God, Montbello v. City & Cty. of Denver , 122 P.3d 1089, 1092 (Colo. App. 2005) (alteration omitted) (citation omitted).

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Bluebook (online)
444 P.3d 784, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/owners-ins-co-v-dakota-station-ii-condo-assn-inc-coloctapp-2017.