Thompson v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co.

341 F. Supp. 3d 1261
CourtDistrict Court, D. Colorado
DecidedSeptember 20, 2018
DocketCivil Action No. 16-cv-01202-PAB-KLM
StatusPublished

This text of 341 F. Supp. 3d 1261 (Thompson v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Colorado primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Thompson v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 341 F. Supp. 3d 1261 (D. Colo. 2018).

Opinion

PHILIP A. BRIMMER, United States District Judge

This matter is before the Court on Defendant State Farm's Motion for Summary Judgment [Docket No. 58]. The Court has jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1332.

I. BACKGROUND

This case arises out of a dispute over underinsured motorist ("UIM") benefits. On August 11, 2013, Cynthia Thompson was a passenger in a motor vehicle accident with an underinsured driver. Docket No. 58 at 2, ¶ 3. Ms. Thompson claimed that she suffered injuries, damages, and losses as a result of the accident. Id. , ¶ 4. On December 3, 2013, the underinsured driver's insurance carrier paid Ms. Thompson $25,000, the limits of the driver's insurance policy, to settle her claim for liability. Id. , ¶ 6. On February 5, 2014, Ms. Thompson died in her sleep. Id. , ¶ 7. Her autopsy revealed that she had a 50 mcg/hr fentanyl transdermal patch on her upper back. Id. , ¶ 9. The postmortem examination report further stated that Ms. Thompson's lungs showed evidence of pulmonary congestion and edema and that she had multiple drugs in her system, including diazepam and fentanyl. Id. , ¶ 10. The Certificate of Death lists "Respiratory Arrest" and "Multiple prescription drug intoxication" as the "Immediate Cause" of Ms. Thompson's death. Id. at 3, ¶ 12. It is undisputed that Ms. Thompson was not prescribed fentanyl at any time between August 11, 2013 and February 5, 2014. Id. at 2-3, ¶¶ 5, 13.

At some time before August 11, 2013, defendant issued four automobile insurance policies, each with a $100,000 UIM limit, to Ms. Thompson's parents. Id. at 3, ¶ 17; Docket No. 4 at 4, ¶ 43. Those policies were in effect at the time of the accident that injured Ms. Thompson. Docket No. 58 at 3, ¶ 17.1 On June 18, 2014, plaintiff's counsel informed defendant that plaintiff would be pursuing a wrongful death claim as well as a survival action on behalf of Ms. Thompson's estate. Id. , ¶ 14. On July 31, 2014, defendant advised counsel that, while it was continuing to investigate plaintiff's insurance claims, defendant did not have sufficient documentation to determine whether Ms. Thompson's death was a direct result of the motor vehicle accident. Id. at 4, ¶ 20. Plaintiff was appointed personal representative of Ms. Thompson's estate on March 9, 2015. Id. at 4, ¶ 22. On April 1, 2015, defendant informed plaintiff that it had offered to settle his survival *1265claim for $69,700, but still needed documentation showing that Ms. Thompson's death was the result of the motor vehicle accident in order to determine whether plaintiff was entitled to additional benefits. Id. , ¶ 24. On October 26, 2015, defendant sent plaintiff another letter informing him that, because it had not received additional documentation regarding the cause of Ms. Thompson's death, it would not pay any benefits beyond the $69,700 that was offered to settle the survival claim. Id. at 5, ¶ 25.

Plaintiff filed this lawsuit on April 5, 2016 in the District Court for Mesa County, Colorado. See Docket No. 4 at 1. On May 20, 2015, defendant removed the case to this Court on the basis of diversity jurisdiction. See Docket No. 1 at 1. In his amended complaint, plaintiff asserts Colorado state law claims for: (1) declaratory judgment; (2) breach of contract; (3) common law bad faith breach of an insurance contract; and (4) unreasonable denial of UIM benefits under Colo. Rev. Stat. §§ 10-3-1115 and 10-3-1116. Docket No. 4 at 6-12. Defendant moved for summary judgment on all claims on June 8, 2017. Docket No. 58. On June 29, 2017, plaintiff filed a preliminary response to defendant's motion as well as a motion for relief under Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(d), requesting that the Court defer ruling on the motion for summary judgment to allow plaintiff additional time to conduct discovery. Docket Nos. 59, 60. After the close of expert discovery on January 15, 2018, the Court ordered the parties to file supplemental briefs regarding the motion for summary judgment. Docket No. 99. Plaintiff filed his supplemental response on January 30, 2018, Docket No. 109, to which defendant replied on February 13, 2018. Docket No. 110.

II. LEGAL STANDARD

Summary judgment is warranted under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56 when the "movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a) ; See Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc. ,

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Bluebook (online)
341 F. Supp. 3d 1261, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/thompson-v-state-farm-mut-auto-ins-co-cod-2018.