$140,000 Verdict Against State Farm in a Colorado Underinsured Motorist and Bad Faith Case

In Colorado, drivers buy underinsured motorist coverage for one situation in particular: the person who hits them does not carry enough insurance to pay for the harm they cause. Johnson v. State Farm grew out of exactly that problem. A motorist was injured in a collision with another car, the at-fault driver's liability limits fell short, and the injured driver turned to a State Farm policy to make up the difference.

The crash left lasting bodily injury, including damage to the spine. Costs of that kind do not stop when the emergency room visit ends. They show up later in treatment, in lost earnings, and in the value of a claim that an insurer is supposed to pay under coverage the policyholder had already bought.

State Farm did not resolve the claim the way the policyholder believed the policy required. That refusal turned a contract dispute into something larger. The lawsuit carried two related claims: an underinsured motorist claim over what the injuries were actually worth, and an insurance bad faith claim arguing that the company had handled the file unreasonably. Colorado law lets a policyholder pursue both at once, and the bad faith claim can raise the stakes well past the size of the original medical bills.

Ramos Law took the case to trial rather than settling on the insurer's terms. Jessica Schlatter, who now practices as Jessica McBryant and serves as the firm's Director of Complex Litigation, handled it. Her record runs to car-crash and insurance disputes that other lawyers might write off as too small to try, including verdicts she has won for clients across Colorado. This one went in front of a jury.

The jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff in 2024. The award came to $140,000, covering the underinsured motorist and bad faith claims that State Farm had contested. There is no public record of that amount being cut or reversed after trial.

The $140,000 figure is small next to the multimillion-dollar awards that top the annual rankings. It still made the list. TopVerdict.com counted Johnson v. State Farm among the Top 50 plaintiff's verdicts entered in Colorado courts in 2024, placing it at number 41.