Karyn Gregory v. Safeco Insurance Company of America, Lisa Runkel and Sylvan T. Runkel, Iii v. Owners Insurance Company

Summary

The court held that Colorado’s notice-prejudice rule applies to occurrence-based, first-party homeowners’ property insurance policies, even when those policies contain a date-certain notice deadline. Because notice in an occurrence policy facilitates investigation and defense rather than defining the temporal scope of coverage, an insurer may deny coverage for late notice only after proving prejudice. The court reversed and remanded both cases for application of that rule.