Paros Properties v. Colorado Casualty Ins Co

A mudslide destroyed a commercial building in Boulder, Colorado, owned by Paros Properties LLC and insured under a policy issued by Colorado Casualty Insurance Company. Paros filed an insurance claim but the Insurer denied payment because damage from mudslides was excluded from policy coverage. Paros then filed a state-court suit seeking payment under the Policy and damages for bad-faith breach of the insurance contract. It argued that the mudslide caused the building to explode, bringing the incident within the scope of an explosion exception to the Policy’s mudslide exclusion. The Insurer removed the action to federal court, which granted summary judgment to the Insurer. On appeal Paros argued: (1) that the district court lacked subject-matter jurisdiction because the Insurer’s removal from state court was untimely; and (2) that the district court erred on the merits in holding that there was no coverage. After its review, the Tenth Circuit held that the notice of removal was too late. But because the district court correctly ruled on the merits and the jurisdictional requirements were satisfied at that time, the Court affirmed the judgment below rather than burden the state court and the parties by requiring relitigation. View "Paros Properties v. Colorado Casualty Ins Co" on Justia Law