Loss-of-Bonding-Capacity Claims Are Back in Colorado

Denny Construction v. Denver (Colo. 2009)

Reversing a Court of Appeals opinion, the Colorado Supreme Court holds that impaired bonding capacity claims are not speculative as a matter of law.  Instead, like all claims for lost profits, they must be established with reasonable certainty.  Far from finding such a claim speculative as a matter of law as the Court of Appeals did, the Colorado Supreme Court lends support for such a claim:

"At bottom, then, a reduction in bonding capacity indicates a reduction in responsibility, which, in turn, will impair a contractor’s ability to obtain public works contracts. This is not speculation; on the contrary, it is the intended function of the bonding system."