Liability Umbrella Insurance - Because Liability Lawsuits are on the Rise in Colorado!

Serving the Denver Metro area and the communities of Golden, Lakewood, Littleton, Morrison, Evergreen, Arvada and Summit County.

Why are Liability Lawsuits on the Rise in Colorado?

Allowing Personal Injury Attorneys to Advertise on TV is One Reason

Just watch TV for 2 hours, it's almost guaranteed you will see at least 4 commercials featuring a personal injury attorney. They tout how wonderful they are by getting lots of money for their injured clients from stingy insurance carriers. What they don't tell you is that they also sue individuals if the individual is 'at fault' in the accident and injures their client. If the 'at-fault' party does not have enough insurance coverage to pay for the injured party's medical bills, pain and suffering, loss of companionship and lost wages; the personal injury attorney can go after the personal assets of the 'at fault' party. These commercials are a contributing factor to the increase in the number of lawsuits brought against individuals in Colorado. Some states disallow these types of commercials.

How to Protect Yourself from A Liability Lawsuit

By purchasing a personal liability policy, sometimes called an 'umbrella' policy, you will give yourself additional liability protection, sold in $1million increments.

The Term 'Umbrella' Can Be Deceiving

A personal liability umbrella policy is an important policy to purchase, but the name is not an accurate representation of what it covers.  Most people think the term ‘umbrella’ means this policy will cover all the weird or unusual types of losses that are not covered by their home or auto insurance policies. Some people think it will also cover them in their professional activities. This is not correct. In general, for most personal umbrella policies available, the policy provides: additional or excess liability limits above the auto, home, owned rental properties and/or recreational vehicles such as a boat, jet ski or snowmobile insurance policies.

Example: A standard home or landlord policy carries $300,000 in liability coverage. The home has a pool and while running around the pools edge, a guest slips and severely injures themselves.  The home's liability coverage on the insurance policy will pay for injuries up to the limit of the liability coverage. An umbrella policy would provide an additional limit of insurance to pay for the injured person’s medical bills and lost wages.

Example:  An auto policy carries a Bodily Injury (BI) limit of insurance of $250K/$500K (per person/per accident.) This driver is deemed ‘at fault’ for an auto accident in which he injures one person who has $450,000 in medical bills and lost wage costs. Being the "at-fault" driver, he would be responsible to pay the injured party as required by Colorado law. His auto policy jis primary and will pay up to the limit of $250,000 to any one injured party. An umbrella policy would pay secondary and would pay the additional $200,000 in medical costs and lost wages up to the limit of insurance on the Umbrella policy.

Example: A boat owner takes his neighbors out for a ride and day of fun on the water, but he hits a submerged rock and one of the neighbors is ejected out of the boat and is killed by hitting his head on a rock. His family wants compensation for his lost wages and loss of companionship. The boat owners boat policy would pay to the limit of the liability amount listed on the policy. If that weren't enough, then the boat owners Liability Umbrella policy would pay the additional costs to the family of the deceased passenger.

Important Benefit to Purchasing a Liability Umbrella Policy

Most policies will also pay the attorney’s fees to defend you in a court of law. If the liability case brought against you is fraudulent or without merit, the umbrella policy will still pay the attorney fees to defend you… whether or not you are found liable. This is a huge benefit. Attorneys are expensive to hire, and their fees rack up quickly.

Denver West Insurance Brokers is a local personal lines and business insurance broker located on the west side of Denver in Golden CO. Our licensed agents are trained to find the right coverage for each individual client. Give us a call at 303-960-5290 or EMAIL US and let us explain further the importance of purchasing a Liability Umbrella Policy.