STATE LAW –
COLORADO LIBRARY –
GUIDE 08
Coverage Disclosure & Insurer Duties
Colorado has a specific statutory process for obtaining automobile liability-policy
information before suit. The disclosure duty is an information-access rule:
it identifies potentially relevant insurance and limits, but it does not itself
decide whether coverage ultimately applies.
Rule at a Glance
The statute is an information-access rule, not a coverage decision
Under C.R.S. § 10-3-1117, an insurer that provides or may provide automobile liability
coverage for a pending or prospective claim must respond to a qualifying written request
within the statutory period. The response helps reveal the insurance architecture;
it does not replace a separate coverage analysis.
Written claimant request
Use a written request that satisfies the statute and preserve the exact version sent.
Registered-agent process
Preserve reliable proof showing when the insurer’s registered agent received the request.
Potentially relevant policies
Audit the response for the required policy information, limits and known potentially relevant excess or umbrella coverage.
A policy may need to be disclosed even though the insurer maintains a separate coverage defense.
Required Disclosure
Audit the production item by item
Do not treat a limits letter, declarations page, or selected policy excerpt as automatically equivalent
to the statutory response.
Request Mechanics
Treat the disclosure request as evidence
A later reviewer should be able to reconstruct the entire disclosure chronology without relying on memory.
Preserve the carrier, claim number, insured and known policy information.
Use a reliable current source and save the agent information used.
Preserve the exact final version sent to the registered agent.
Save delivery, mailing, fax, electronic or forwarding evidence.
Track the statutory response window separately from any later enforcement deadline.
List what was produced, what remains missing and every new coverage lead.
Insured-Party Duty
The insured has a separate disclosure obligation
The statute also addresses disclosure by the insured party. Keep the insurer’s disclosure duty
and the insured’s separate duty analytically distinct.
Insurer response
Focuses on the statutory information and potentially relevant policies the insurer must identify and produce.
Insured-party response
Separately addresses disclosure of known insurer and coverage information by the insured party.
Remedy & Confidentiality
Noncompliance carries a statutory remedy, but disclosed information remains protected
31st-day trigger
Section 10-3-1117(3) provides the statutory daily remedy beginning on the 31st day after receipt if required information has not been provided.
$100 per day
The statute provides $100 per day until the required information is provided, together with enforcement fees and costs as provided by law.
Use is restricted
The statute limits disclosure of the information while permitting specified claim-related use.
Important Legal Rules & Cases
Published Colorado cases now define both disclosure scope and the limitations dispute
Disclosure can remain required despite a coverage position
Bohanan addresses whether a requested policy was or may have been relevant to evaluating the prospective claim despite the insurer’s separate coverage position.
Published · certiorari granted Aug. 17, 2026 · No. 26SC158
One-year / Day-31 approach
Reynolds treated the statutory remedy as a penalty claim and applied a one-year limitation with Day-31 accrual.
Published Colorado Court of Appeals
Two-year / discovery approach
Weatherill declined Reynolds, applied the two-year catchall period and used discovery-based accrual.
Published division conflict · currentness watch
They are conflicting published Court of Appeals decisions unless later controlling authority resolves the issue.
Litigation, Deadlines & Preservation
Separate the 30-day disclosure clock from the limitations question
Disclosure deadline
Record receipt of the written request, Day 30, Day 31, every production date and every follow-up.
Enforcement deadline
Reynolds and Weatherill state conflicting limitations approaches. Verify current controlling authority before calculating a final enforcement deadline.
Because the published appellate decisions conflict, do not rely on a summary page alone for the limitations calculation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Colorado coverage-disclosure questions
Can a claimant request liability-policy information before filing suit?
Yes. Section 10-3-1117 creates a pre-suit disclosure process for qualifying automobile liability coverage.
Does the process include potentially relevant umbrella or excess insurance?
The statute addresses known policies of the named insured, including potentially relevant excess or umbrella insurance.
Does an insurer’s coverage denial automatically eliminate the disclosure duty?
No. The current case law distinguishes the disclosure question from the insurer’s ultimate coverage position.
What happens if required information is not produced within 30 days?
Section 10-3-1117(3) provides a statutory daily remedy beginning on the 31st day, subject to the statute and current controlling law.
Primary Authorities
Verify the rule at the source
Current official primary authority controls over this summary. This is a current-law page,
so statutes, regulations, published opinions and appellate status should be checked before reliance.
Use Colorado’s disclosure statute to identify every potentially relevant automobile liability policy,
preserve proof of the request and response, and audit the production item by item.
Before settlement or release, resolve remaining coverage leads, confirm the current appellate posture,
and check other first- and third-party insurance that may affect the available recovery.
Disclosure Is Not the Same as Coverage Acceptance
Track policy information and coverage position separately
A claimant may receive policy information without learning whether the carrier has accepted indemnity, reserved rights, asserted an exclusion, or identified another policy as primary.