Thursday, January 29, 2015

OWNERS OF OHIO MANSION GUTTED BY FIRE SUE INSURER FOR $60M



OWNERS OF OHIO MANSION GUTTED BY FIRE SUE INSURER FOR $60M



January 28, 2015

CINCINNATI, OHIO (AP) — The owners of a $4 million suburban mansion that burned to the ground last year are suing their insurance company for almost $60 million, saying it didn't honor their claims.
Court documents show homeowners Jeffrey and Maria Decker sued Chubb National Insurance Co. this month in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court.
The lawsuit says the insurer, based in Warren, New Jersey, gave no reasonable justification for not honoring the couple's insurance claims. It says the insurance company or its agents operated in bad faith, and it seeks more than $14 million for breach of contract and more than $44 million for damages including financial loss of policy payments.
The county auditor's website had listed the home as being worth more than $4 million.
Chubb doesn't comment on claims or pending litigation, spokesman Mark Schussel said Wednesday.
The fire at the 10,000-square-foot mansion in the upscale Indian Hill area sent flames shooting more than 30 feet into the air and took several hours to extinguish.  It gutted the home, leaving behind only a charred frame.  Firefighters said a fire hydrant at the home didn't provide enough water to put out a blaze of that magnitude.
The January 2014 fire caused significant if not total damage to the 22-room home's structure, personal property and automobiles, the lawsuit says.
The cause of the fire hasn't been determined. The Decker family wasn't home at the time, and no one was injured.




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Cause of Indian Hill mansion fire is undetermined 

Apr 10, 2014, 4:31pm EDT

The single-family home at 9645 Cunningham Road had 22 rooms and was on a lot of more than 5 acres. It was built in 2006.

It’s been three months since a mansion in Indian Hill burned to the ground Jan. 10, resulting in $5 million in damage, and today the Ohio fire marshal’s office complied with the state requirement that it report within 90 days on a probable cause.

“The cause is ‘undetermined,’” said Michael Duchesne, spokesman for the Ohio fire marshal. “ ‘Undetermined’ is one of the determinations we can reach. That’s not final. It’s still an ongoing investigation. We’re still actively working the case.”

Four members of the Decker family lived in the home at 9645 Cunningham Road. Various websites list the same address for J.R. Decker Builders. The owner of the property is Maria Decker. Her husband, Jeff Decker, is in the construction business.
The house had 22 rooms and was on a lot of more than 5 acres. The market value of the house alone was $4 million. It was built in 2006.

Nobody was home at the time of the fire, and the family’s two dogs were unharmed because they had been left outside.

Investigators finished looking through what was left of the mansion on Jan. 16. It’s not unusual for an investigation involving such a large house to take so long, Duchesne told me.
“Nothing big has changed in the investigation,” he said. “We’re just going to continue to work.
“There’s a lot of interest in the case,” Duchesne added. “This may be the single-most phone calls I’ve gotten (from news reporters) about a single investigation, including ones with multiple fatalities.”

The investigation is being conducted by the fire marshal’s office, the Madeira and Indian Hill Joint Fire District, the Hamilton County Arson Taskforce and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

It’s common for the ATF to be involved in investigations when a loss involves such a high-dollar amount, Duchesne said.