Chubb National Insurance Company is firing back in a $60 million lawsuit filed by homeowners who say the insurer did not act quickly enough in settling a claim relating to a fire that destroyed their $4 million Ohio mansion.
Attorneys for Chubb wrote in an April 3 federal court filing that Jeffery and Maria Decker “concealed and misrepresented” significant facts in their claim, including details about the fire and the actual value of property lost.
The Deckers owned a 22-room mansion in the Indian Hill neighborhood of Cincinnati that was destroyed in a January 2014 fire. Despite significant investigation by state and federal fire investigators, the official cause of the fire was “undetermined.” In January, the Deckers filed a lawsuit against Chubb National for failing to pay out their insurance claim, seeking $15 million plus $44.9 million in punitive damages. They claim Chubb National breached its coverage contract “without reasonable justification.”
In the court filing, Chubb National argues it denied the Deckers’ claim after an internal investigation revealed the Deckers’ inflated the value of their losses and that Jeffrey Decker was not where he claimed to be moments before the fire was reported.
The insurer says its claims investigators analyzed Jeffrey Decker’s cellphone records, proving he was not working at a construction site in Blue Ash when his home caught fire. Instead, Chubb National says he was “at or around” his home 16 minutes before witnesses called emergenc services after seeing smoke.
Additionally, attorneys for Chubb National say the Deckers misrepresented facts concerning the home’s construction costs, their own financial conditions prior to the fire and the “type and amount of currency in the safe(s)” at the mansion.
Maria Decker is also accused of hiding conversations with family members and real estate agents before the fire regarding the Deckers’ intention to sell the home.
Chubb National concludes that such circumstances violated the “concealment and fraud” general condition of the homeowners policy, which reads, “We do not provide coverage if you or any covered person has intentionally concealed or misrepresented any material fact relating to this policy before or after a loss.”
Chubb National is also asking for a dismissal of the Deckers’ claims, and that the Deckers pay interest, cost and attorneys’ fees the insurer has incurred during the suit.
