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In The News

Insurance bad faith and insurance coverage law firm in Colorado

June 11-17, 2004

Switching Sides Put Levin on the Right Career Path
By: Karl Lueders
Special to the Business Journal

Sometimes being Goliath isn't all that it's cracked up to be.

Bradley Levin realized that. He decided that during the few years he defended insurance companies against claims of bad faith and nonpayment, he was on the wrong side of the table.

"In a lot of ways, representing policyholders fit into my beliefs of right and wrong, justice and fairness" said Levin, one of the founding partners of Roberts Levin & Patterson PC, which formed in 2000. "It's important for people to have rights and have those rights recognized."

He also recognized what he would be up against. During his transition period from carrier defendant to policyholder advocate, one of Levin's early clients had a little boy who developed cancer and needed an operation to keep him alive. The client's insurance company refused to pay for the operation because, it said, the little boy wasn't listed on the policy.

"What it came down to was the application didn't have room for all the names of the children on the form," Levin said. “There were five kids and two parents but only six lines on the form. The agent who submitted the application said not to worry about it. But because the kid's name wasn't on the policy, there was no coverage."

Although Levin managed to resolve the issue with the insurance company, the boy had already died.

A majority of Levin's business comes from representing similar clients who file claims against insurance carriers that aren't paying or are denying claims.

He has been selected the winner in the insurance law category of the “Best of the Bar” survey, a special to the Denver Business Journal.

As a result of his success rate with his clients, not to mention his reputation as a staunch plaintiff advocate, there is no shortage of work for Levin.

"I'm pretty aggressive on behalf of my clients in terms of sustaining their rights and getting coverage for them," he said. "But at the same time I'm advocating these positions, I'm doing it in a professional manner."

"The other thing is that people come to me because they know that I'm going to get things done and I know how to get it done efficiently. There isn't a lawyer on the other side that doesn't know me and they know they'll be in for a fight with me as I try to get from A to Z as directly as possible."

His insight into the inner mechanism of insurance carrier claims processing makes it easy to understand why policyholders look to Levin for support.

"People who work for insurance companies are very well-meaning people, they're not malicious," he said. "The problem stems from a number of things that are indigenous to insurance companies, whether these people are overworked, high turnover or people that don't have a credible background are on an important case. I've been handed claim files that have been pending for two or three years, and several different adjusters have been on it."

Defending policyholders is Levin's specialty, something he learned from his mentor, John Breit. Levin studied at Stanford and eventually graduated from University of California-San Francisco's Hastings College of Law in 1980.

He stayed in California for three years, defending insurance companies before moving back to Denver to specialize briefly in real estate law until he sought out Breit's firm, then called Breit Best Richman & Bosch. At the start of his 14-year run there, Levin worked under the tutelage of Breit, developing a style for plaintiff advocacy.

Breit would head most cases but Levin's reputation as an insurance lawyer grew among colleagues and adversaries. Five years after joining, Levin made partner. Breit died suddenly in 1995 in private airplane crash. Levin stayed on with the firm until leaving in 2000 to start Roberts Levin & Patterson.

"I learned a lot from [Breit]," Levin said. "The main thing that I learned was the quality of empathy and humanity when dealing with clients. Nobody fought for his clients more strongly than John and that's something I try to carry on."

While Levin is a plaintiff's lawyer, his objectivity has made him an expert witness in many court cases. He's been asked to testify on behalf of plaintiffs as well as defendants. "I call them as I see them, Levin said. "Although I haven't done much in the last few years, there have been instances where I've been hired by insurance companies in terms of coverage and their rights. But it's all with the understanding that I don't want to be conflicted between the two parties."

Levin also has written several amicus briefs for the state Supreme Court for the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association. If a case facing the Supreme Court pertains to insurance and is of concern to the CTLA, Levin will writes brief to aid the plaintiff's cause.

Levin's greatest thrill as an attorney, however, has come during his defense of women in need of bone marrow transplants who were denied coverage by insurance companies. "The insurance companies claimed those treatments to be experimental," he said. "I probably handled 50 to 60 cases of these, and there is nothing more satisfactory in my professional career than being able to pick up a phone and call somebody and say that the insurance company has agreed to pick up the tab for the transplant.

"That kind of feeling is something you can't get from representing insurance companies."

Disclaimer: The information contained throughout this site is meant to provide a basic understanding of insurance bad faith law including insurance coverage, bad faith first party, bad faith third party, personal counsel, appellate, expert witness, serious bodily injury, disability: ERISA, and disability: professionals. This information is not meant to be taken as legal advice and does not establish an attorney-client privilege.