Limiting the Scope of Ambiguity

On Behalf of | Aug 4, 2016 | Insurance Law

Recently the Colorado Supreme Court in American Family Mutual Ins. Co. v. Hansen, 2016 WL 3398507 (Colo., filed 6/20/16) considered whether an extrinsic document, separate and apart from the insurance policy, could be used to create a policy ambiguity. The Court held that the trial court and the Colorado Court of Appeals erred when it considered the extrinsic document to create a coverage ambiguity. The Colorado Supreme Court held that the discrepancy in an extrinsic document did not create an ambiguity in the policy because the ambiguity doctrine can only be used to determine whether an ambiguity exists within the four corners of the insurance policy itself and cannot be created by an extrinsic document that was not part of that policy.

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