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Vaughan v. McMinn9/22/1997
d in said articles.
(Emphasis added.) The meaning of this section is clear. All remedies contained in the Act are exclusive. This interpretation is supported by several of our prior decisions which held that the broad language of the Act articulates a legislative intent to establish exclusive remedies. See Savio, 706 P.2d at 1264; see also Kelly, 890 P.2d at 1163 ("Recovery under the Act is meant to be the exclusive remedy for workers covered by its provisions."); Roper v. Industrial Comm'n, 93 Colo. 250, 253, 25 P.2d 725, 726 (1933) (noting that one of the fundamental aims of the Act is to replace all existing remedies with the procedures supplied by the Act). Because section 8-43-304(1) provides the exclusive remedy for bad faith breach, it necessarily abrogates the common law tort recognized in Savio.
III.
The General Assembly's 1991 amendment to section 8-43-304(1) must be considered in light of this court's 1985 decision in Savio. Savio recognized the common law tort of bad faith breach primarily because there was no statutory remedy for bad faith in 1985. Because the General Assembly added such a remedy to section 8-43-304(1) in 1991, the common law remedy recognized in Savio is no longer viable. Continuing to recognize the common law remedy would frustrate the purpose of the Act by slowing down the adjudication process and by subjecting claimants and insurers to unpredictable judgments. The General Assembly intended to avoid these problems when it added a remedy for bad faith to section 8-43-304(1). Accordingly, I Dissent to the holding of the majority.
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