Silver v. Colorado Casualty Insurance Co.

219 P.3d 324, 2009 Colo. App. LEXIS 332, 2009 WL 540653
CourtColorado Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 5, 2009
Docket07CA2216
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 219 P.3d 324 (Silver v. Colorado Casualty Insurance Co.) 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
Silver v. Colorado Casualty Insurance Co., 219 P.3d 324, 2009 Colo. App. LEXIS 332, 2009 WL 540653 (Colo. Ct. App. 2009).

Opinion

Opinion by

Judge J. JONES.

On July 19, 2005, a house in Denver owned by plaintiff, Joe Silver, suffered extensive fire damage. He sued the company that insured the property, defendant, Colorado Casualty Insurance Company, after it denied coverage. The district court granted summary judgment in Colorado Casualty's favor on the basis that Colorado Casualty had lawfully rescinded the insurance policy. Silver appeals, and we reverse and remand.

I. Background

Silver bought the property in July 2008. Shortly thereafter, he contacted Deanna Smith, an employee of the insurance brokerage firm of Brown & Brown, Inc., an authorized agent of Colorado Casualty, for the purpose of obtaining insurance coverage on the property. Silver and Smith spoke on the telephone on a few occasions, following which Smith sent Silver an application for insurance that she had completed.

The application represented that the house was in good housekeeping condition and occupied by a single-family tenant. The application contained an affirmation stating: "I have read the above application and I declare that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, all of the foregoing statements are true, and that these statements are offered as an inducement to the company to issue the policy for which I am applying." Silver signed the application and returned it to Smith, who forwarded it to Colorado Casualty. There, an underwriter, Christy Williams, examined the application and determined that it met Colorado Casualty's underwriting guidelines. Williams, on behalf of Colorado Casualty, issued Silver a policy covering the property.

It appears to be undisputed that the house was vacant and uninhabitable at the time Silver submitted the application for insurance coverage (though two individuals may have oceupied the back porch for a time). In fact, two months after Silver submitted his application, the City and County of Denver cited him for maintaining property that was a neighborhood nuisance. The City's reasons included that the property was unsafe, was boarded up, and had not been occupied for at least three consecutive months.

Following the fire, Colorado Casualty learned that the property was not as represented in the application at the time Silver submitted it-for example, it was not in good condition and was uninhabited. Colorado Casualty notified Silver that based on the alleged misrepresentations in the application it was rescinding the policy and would not pay any insurance benefits.

Silver filed suit against Colorado Casualty alleging breach of contract and bad faith breach of insurance contract. Following discovery, Colorado Casualty filed a motion for summary judgment asserting that it had lawfully rescinded the policy, and, therefore, there was no policy on which Silver could base his claims.

The district court granted Colorado Casualty's motion for summary judgment. The court concluded that the undisputed evidence established that Silver had made material misrepresentations in the application, rejecting as unsupported by evidence or contrary to law Silver's arguments in opposition.

IIL Discussion

Silver contends that: (1) Colorado Casualty waived its defense of rescission by failing to plead the basis for the defense-fraud-with specificity; (2) the district court erred in granting summary judgment because there are genuine issues of material fact as to Colorado Casualty's entitlement to rescind the policy; and (3) in granting summary Judgment, the district court improperly relied on inadmissible evidence. Although we are not persuaded that Colorado Casualty waived its rescission defense, we agree with Silver that there is a genuine issue of material fact as to whether Colorado Casualty is estopped to rescind the policy.

A. Standard of Review

Summary judgment is appropriate if the pleadings and supporting documents show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is *327 entitled to judgment as a matter of law. CRCP. 56(c); West Elk Ranch, L.L.C. v. United States, 65 P.3d 479, 481 (Colo.2002); Western Innovations, Inc. v. Sonitrol Corp., 187 P.3d 1155, 1158 (Colo.App.2008). The moving party carries the initial burden to show that there is no genuine issue of material fact. AviComm, Inc. v. Colo. Pub. Utils. Comm'n, 955 P.2d 1023, 1029 (Colo.1998). "Onee the moving party has met its initial burden, the burden shifts to the nonmoving party to establish that there is a triable issue of fact." Id.; accord Western Innovations, 187 P.3d at 1158. The nonmoving party is entitled to all favorable inferences that reasonably may be drawn from the undisputed facts, West Elk Ranch, 65 P.3d at 481, and similarly the court must resolve all doubts as to the existence of a genuine factual issue in favor of the nonmoving party, id.; AviComm, 955 P.2d at 1029.

We review an order granting a motion for summary judgment de novo. West Elk Ranch, 65 P.3d at 481; Western Innovations, 187 P.3d at 1158. In conducting that review, we apply the same standards as those governing the district court's consideration of the motion. Smith v. Boyett, 908 P.2d 508, 514 (Colo.1995); Williams v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 195 P.3d 1158, 1160 (Colo.App.2008).

B. Waiver of Defense

As a threshold matter, we address and reject Silver's contention that Colorado Casualty waived the defense of rescission by failing to plead fraud specifically in its answer to the complaint.

In its answer, Colorado Casualty asserted, as affirmative defenses, that it had properly rescinded the policy and that Silver could not recover on the policy because he had made "material misrepresentations" in the application. Almost eleven months later, after Colorado Casualty's motion for summary judgment was at issue, Silver filed an objection to the motion and moved to strike it, claiming, for the first time, that because Colorado Casualty's rescission defense was based on an allegation of fraud, and Colorado Casualty had failed to plead fraud with particularity in its answer as required by C.R.C.P. 9(b), Colorado Casualty had waived the defense. The court did not address Silver's waiver argument in its order granting Colorado Casualty's motion for summary judgment.

On appeal, Silver again argues that Colorado Casualty waived its rescission defense by failing to plead it with particularity as required by Rule 9(b). Colorado Casualty responds that Silver waived his right to assert its noncompliance with the rule. We agree with Colorado Casualty.

Rule 9(b) provides that "in all aver-ments of fraud ..., the cireumstances constituting fraud ... shall be stated with particularity." Although the rule does not require that the party claiming fraud provide detailed allegations of evidentiary fact, Northwest Dev., Inc. v. Dunn, 29 Colo.App. 364, 368, 483 P.2d 1361, 1363 (1971), the claimant "must at least state the main facts or incidents which constitute the fraud...." State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Parrish, 899 P.2d 285, 289 (Colo.App.1994); see Coon v. Dist. Court, 161 Colo.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
219 P.3d 324, 2009 Colo. App. LEXIS 332, 2009 WL 540653, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/silver-v-colorado-casualty-insurance-co-coloctapp-2009.