2026 limitations update: Weatherill and Reynolds conflict
Colorado now has conflicting published Court of Appeals decisions concerning the limitations period for a claim under C.R.S. § 10-3-1117(3). In Reynolds v. Great Northern Insurance Co., 2023 COA 77, one division treated the statutory remedy as a penalty subject to a one-year limitations period beginning on the thirty-first day after receipt of the request. In Weatherill v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., 2026 COA 11, another division expressly declined to follow Reynolds, held that § 10-3-1117 is not a penalty statute for this purpose, applied the two-year catchall limitations period in C.R.S. § 13-80-102(1)(i), and used a discovery-based accrual rule. Because these published decisions conflict, do not present either limitations rule as finally settled statewide without checking current appellate authority.
Practical rule: treat potential § 10-3-1117 noncompliance as time-sensitive immediately. Preserve the registered-agent receipt date, the thirty-day response deadline, the response actually received, any later-discovered policy or umbrella coverage, and the date the alleged omission was or reasonably should have been discovered.
COLORADO PUBLIC LEGAL LIBRARY · CITIZEN GUIDE
Policy Disclosure & Liability Limits After a Colorado Crash
How to identify the actual insurance company, route a Colorado policy-information request correctly, distinguish minimum insurance from the insurance actually available, and preserve the record if the response is incomplete.
Current-law framework: 2026 · Authority check: September 25, 2026 · Public legal education
Start with the right insurance company
A brand name, adjuster, broker, or claims office is not necessarily the legal insurance company that issued the policy. Colorado’s statutory disclosure process depends on identifying the actual insurer and routing the written request to that insurer’s registered agent.
Identify the underwriting insurer
Use the exact legal company name shown on reliable policy, claim, coverage, or regulatory records. Preserve the NAIC number when available.
Identify the current registered agent
Confirm the insurer’s current Colorado registered agent before sending the statutory request. Do not assume an adjuster or ordinary claims address is the registered agent.
C.R.S. § 10-3-1117
The statute governs automobile liability policy-information disclosure for a pending or prospective claim and supplies the statutory response framework.
Regulation 5-1-27
The current Colorado Division of Insurance regulation implements the automobile policy-information request process, including registered-agent routing and insurer response procedures.
Current-rule warning: do not rely on former Regulation 5-2-03 as current law. The uploaded source identifies Regulation 5-2-03 as historical/repealed and Regulation 5-1-27 as the operative implementation rule.
The policy-information request workflow
Treat the request as a controlled evidence process. The important facts are who the insurer is, where the request was sent, when it was received, what was produced, and what remains missing.
- Identify the exact insurer. Record the legal company name and NAIC number if available. Do not rely only on the insurance-group or trade name.
- Confirm the registered agent. Use current Colorado regulatory information to identify the insurer’s registered agent and service address.
- Prepare the written § 10-3-1117 request. Identify the pending or prospective claim clearly enough for the insurer to route the request and ask for the policy information required by the statute.
- Send it to the registered agent. Use a delivery method that creates reliable proof of transmission and receipt. Preserve the exact version sent.
- Calendar thirty calendar days from receipt. Preserve the receipt date rather than relying on the date the letter was drafted or mailed.
- Audit the response. Compare what was produced against the current statute and regulation, including insurer identification, insured-party information, liability limits, the policy, and known excess or umbrella coverage that is or may be relevant.
- Read the actual policy and endorsements. A limits statement is not a complete coverage analysis. Review forms, endorsements, exclusions, definitions, covered autos, insured status, and other potentially applicable insurance.
- Preserve omissions and discrepancies. Keep the request, proof of receipt, insurer response, claim correspondence, policy forms, endorsements, and a chronology of follow-up.
Minimum insurance is not the same as available insurance
Colorado minimum limits are a floor, not a coverage finding. Colorado’s minimum required liability limits are $25,000 for bodily injury or death to one person, $50,000 for bodily injury or death to two or more persons in one crash, and $15,000 for property damage, subject to current law. A particular policy may provide substantially more.
| Issue | What controls | Citizen action | Preserve |
|---|---|---|---|
| Statutory minimum | C.R.S. § 10-4-620 | Use only to understand Colorado’s minimum required liability coverage. | Current statutory source. |
| Actual liability limits | Policy, declarations information, endorsements, and § 10-3-1117 response. | Obtain and compare the actual policy materials. | Complete response and policy. |
| Excess or umbrella coverage | Actual additional policies and the disclosure statute. | Do not stop the inquiry merely because a primary-limit figure has been provided. | Any excess or umbrella identification or policy produced. |
| Coverage application | Policy language plus governing law. | Separate the amount of limits from whether a particular person, vehicle, occurrence, or loss is covered. | Forms, endorsements, reservation-of-rights or coverage correspondence. |
What should the response contain?
For a current request, compare the response to the operative statutory text rather than an old form letter or checklist. The statute addresses the insurer’s name, insured parties identified through the declarations information, liability limits, the policy itself, and known relevant excess or umbrella insurance.
Declarations-page distinction: the uploaded source states that Regulation 5-1-27 allows a policy copy to include the declarations page or application but does not require those items as separate attachments in every production. Do not convert a request for the policy into an unsupported assertion that a standalone declarations page is always independently mandated.
Evidence checklist
Before sending
- Exact insurer legal name.
- NAIC number if available.
- Registered-agent name.
- Registered-agent address.
- Claimant and crash identifiers.
Proof of request
- Final signed request.
- Transmission record.
- Delivery confirmation.
- Date received.
- Thirty-day calendar entry.
Response package
- Insurer correspondence.
- Insured-party information disclosed.
- Liability limits.
- Policy forms.
- Endorsements.
- Excess or umbrella material.
Audit record
- Missing documents.
- Late response.
- Partial response.
- Conflicting limit information.
- Follow-up correspondence.
Four distinctions that prevent common mistakes
1. Adjuster ≠ registered agent.
Ordinary claim communications may go to an adjuster. The statutory policy-information request has its own routing requirement. Keep those processes separate.
2. Limits ≠ coverage.
A stated limit does not decide who is insured, whether an exclusion applies, whether another policy exists, or whether excess insurance is implicated.
3. Regulation ≠ statute.
C.R.S. § 10-3-1117 supplies the statutory disclosure right. DOI regulations implement administrative requirements. Agency bulletins should be identified as guidance rather than statute.
4. Historical rule ≠ current rule.
Former Regulation 5-2-03 belongs in the provenance record. It should not be used as the operative 2026 implementation rule.
Where to go next
This page is the concise Colorado statutory workflow. Use the related VictimsGuide resources for the deeper or operational layers.
- Policy Disclosures — C.R.S. § 10-3-1117 — request forms, response forms, and compliance-support materials.
- Guide to Policy Disclosures — broader citizen explanation, issue spotting, and practical request analysis.
- Colorado Guide 03 — Policy Disclosure & Finding Every Insurance Policy — deeper Colorado authority layer and full coverage-map analysis.
- Third-Party Liability — driver, owner, employer, business, permissive-use, and other liability layers.
- UM/UIM — use the liability coverage record when evaluating underinsured-motorist issues and settlement sequencing.
- Clean Claim System — place the request, delivery proof, response, policy forms, omissions, and follow-up into the master coverage file.
Authority behind this guide
Current official sources control. VictimsGuide source records preserve provenance, corrections, and explanatory analysis separately.
- C.R.S. § 10-3-1117 — Required disclosures — liability — definition. Primary statutory disclosure authority.
- C.R.S. § 10-4-620 — Required coverage. Colorado’s minimum required automobile liability limits.
- 3 CCR 702-5, Regulation 5-1-27 — Automobile Policy Information Requests. Current implementation regulation identified by the source.
- Colorado DOI Bulletin B-1.37 — Registered Agent Requirement. Agency guidance concerning registered-agent routing; guidance is not the statute itself.
- Regulation 5-2-16 — Disclosure Requirements for Private Passenger Automobile Policies. Separate automobile disclosure regulation identified in the source authority map.
- Regulation 5-2-17 — Private Passenger Automobile Coverage Limitations. Separate automobile coverage regulation identified in the source authority map.
- Former Regulation 5-2-03. Historical provenance only; not the operative 2026 request rule according to the uploaded source.
Colorado Revised Statutes — official current source
Colorado Secretary of State — current 3 CCR 702-5 rule source
Colorado General Assembly — Mandatory Automobile Insurance in Colorado
Frequently asked questions
Is Colorado’s $25,000 bodily-injury minimum the most insurance I can recover?
No. It is a statutory minimum requirement, not proof of the limits or all insurance actually available in a particular claim.
Can I just ask the adjuster for the policy?
You can ask an adjuster for information, but do not confuse ordinary claim correspondence with the statutory routing requirements for a § 10-3-1117 request.
Does receiving a policy mean coverage is established?
No. Policy production and coverage analysis are separate. The policy must still be read together with endorsements, facts, and governing law.
Why preserve proof of receipt?
Because the statutory response period is tied to receipt of the written request by the registered agent. The chronology is part of the evidence.
Build the coverage record before settlement pressure takes over
Identify the insurer, use the registered-agent route, preserve receipt, obtain the policy, and distinguish the minimum required insurance from the coverage actually available.
Public legal education. VictimsGuide provides educational information and public legal research. This page is not individualized legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Statutes, regulations, agency procedures, registered-agent information, forms, and deadlines can change. Confirm current official authority for the particular matter and obtain qualified legal advice when appropriate.
What should I read next?
Where am I now?
Return to the plain-English crash-to-closure map and see how this issue fits into the whole process.
Continue: Use the Policy Disclosure Guide
Move from the disclosure concept into a practical workflow for obtaining and checking the actual policy and limits information.
Need a term explained?
Use the canonical plain-English desk for insurance, evidence, settlement, lawsuit and trial terminology.