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.
//_______________________________________________//
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.