About Susan
Susan Minamizono is a seasoned lawyer with a strong focus on insurance coverage disputes, bad faith litigation, and high-value personal injury claims. Her interest in law was deeply influenced by her experiences as the daughter of immigrants, where she found herself advocating for her non-English speaking parents from a young age as they attempted to navigate business and insurance-related hurdles. This early sense of responsibility and willingness to take on complicated and, at times, oppressive systems laid the foundation for Susan’s commitment to fighting for justice.
Initially drawn to science with aspirations of becoming a geneticist, Susan’s path shifted towards law due to her problem-solving skills and desire for more personal connections. Despite her diverse interests, including molecular biology and the arts, Susan ultimately found her calling in law. During law school, Susan discovered a profound passion for litigation and speaking for the voiceless.
After graduation, Susan gained valuable experience with an insurance defense firm, handling cases in product liability, construction defect, and personal injury law. This experience provided her with holistic insight into the inner workings of the insurance industry, which she now utilizes to effectively represent policyholders.
Susan’s impressive career achievements include being recognized by Colorado Super Lawyers for her work in insurance coverage, as well as being honored as one of the Top 50 women lawyers in the state, and receiving the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association’s Consumer Protection Award. She has successfully challenged insurance coverage denials, secured high-value settlements for clients, and offered invaluable assistance as personal counsel to policyholders. She is also deeply involved in pro bono services, particularly assisting trafficking survivors and immigrant clients in handling complex legal issues.
Outside of her legal practice, Susan is a dedicated partner and parent of two humans and a pup, a curious world traveler and explorer of all things culinary, a novice wilderness backpacker, and a karaoke enthusiast.
Her accomplishments include:
- Negotiated multiple settlements with automobile insurers for their failure to properly compensate their insureds for their injuries and losses under uninsured/underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) coverages
- Successfully challenged the denial by an insurance company to defend a multimillion–dollar franchise in an employment discrimination action
- Numerous successful appeals of denials of benefits by disability and health insurers
- High-value settlement for a business client whose insurer failed to defend it in a lawsuit involving disputes arising from a leasing agreement
- High-value settlement paid under an employment practices liability policy on behalf of clients who were sexually assaulted by a judgment-proof employer
- Six-figure settlement paid under a homeowner’s policy for hail damage
- Insurance policy coverage review for individual, business, and non-profit policyholders
