Opinion
Carroll, Bradley & Ciancio, Gene Ciancio, Denver, for plaintiff-appellee.
James W. Creamer, Jr. & Associates, P.C., James W. Creamer, Jr., Denver, for defendant-appellant.
COYTE, Judge.
Wales filed suit against State Farm Insurance Company to recover the sum of $10,000 which she alleged State Farm owed her under the uninsured motorist coverage provision of an insurance policy by virtue of a judgment previously obtained by her against the uninsured motorist in a separate action. The company filed a motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction over the subject matter on the grounds that Wales was first required to submit her claim to arbitration.
The trial court denied defendant's motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction and made conclusions of law that the agreement to submit to arbitration, as contained in the insurance policy attached to plaintiff's complaint, was null and void as being against public policy. The court dispensed with the filing of a motion for rehearing and declared the order to be a final, appealable judgment. The defendant appeals. We dismiss the appeal.
The order of the trial court denying defendant's motion to dismiss plaintiff's complaint is not a final judgment and cannot be appealed. Town of Mountain View v. Kirk, 113 Colo. 310, 156 P.2d 695. The trial court may not declare an order final which is not final under C.A.R. 1. The conclusion by the trial court that the order was a final and appealable order is not binding on this court. Trans Central Airlines, Inc. v. McBreen & Associates, Inc., 31 Colo.App. 71, 497 P.2d 1033.
Since the order denying the motion to dismiss is not a final order, the trial court was without power to declare it final and appealable. Therefore, the appeal must be, and is, dismissed.
SILVERSTEIN, C.J., and VAN CISE, J., concur.