National Fire & Marine Insurance Company wants a federal judge to say it is done paying.
The carrier filed a declaratory judgment complaint on May 22, 2026 in the US District Court for the District of Nebraska, asking the court to confirm it has paid everything it owes under a commercial property policy issued to Summit View Luxe, LLC.
The dispute centers on a dwelling at 1731 Summitridge Drive in Beverly Hills, insured under Commercial Property Policy No. 12PRM047103-06 for the policy period March 16, 2023 to March 16, 2024. According to the complaint, masked individuals entered the property and set fire to the building on or about May 21, 2023. The filing states there were no signs of forced entry. The building was rented out, but the renters were not there when the fire started. The complaint says the building was damaged by the fire and by water released from the fire suppression system.
So far, National Fire has paid $3,342,274.10 - $2,265,297.84 for the building, $76,976.26 for business personal property, and the $1 million policy limit for business or rental income and extra expense.
Summit View wants more. The complaint says the insured is demanding $5,918,144.02 for the building and $93,102.54 for business personal property - an additional $3,707,600.18 on top of what has been paid.
Two endorsements sit at the heart of the case. The policy carried a Protective Safeguards Endorsement (CP 0411 1012) requiring automatic sprinklers and an automatic fire alarm connected to a central station or fire alarm station. It also carried a Burglary, Robbery, Theft and Vandalism Protective Safeguards Endorsement (CPB 1211 1022) requiring an automatic burglary alarm that signaled to an outside central station or police station.
According to the complaint, both alarm systems were installed at the building at the time of loss. Neither signaled to an outside central police or fire station. The filing says the alarms were connected to a voice over internal protocol (VoIP) connection, and after an investigation there was "no evidence that the alarm systems signaled to the central stations at the time of loss such that the systems were functional."
National Fire says it investigated the claim under a reservation of rights citing both endorsements and the insured's duties under the policy. Those duties include a requirement to "[c]ooperate with us in the investigation or settlement of the claim."
When the parties could not agree on the loss amount, the carrier turned to the policy's appraisal condition - a clause that lets two appraisers and an umpire settle disputes over the amount of loss. National Fire invoked appraisal on January 13, 2025 and named Jim Buckley as its appraiser. Summit View accepted on January 23, 2025 and named Michael Nedobity, according to a letter from its counsel, ACTS Law.
Then the process stalled. The complaint says that on May 8, 2025, before an umpire was picked, Summit View asked to pause so it could supplement its claim documentation. National Fire agreed. The parties jointly inspected the building on July 29, 2025. Summit View handed over more material on January 13, 2026. After reviewing the supplemental information and the joint inspection, the filing states, the carrier's position on the loss did not change.
National Fire asked to restart appraisal on March 17, 2026. The complaint says Summit View responded a month later stating that appraisal would not proceed until National Fire produced additional documents. The carrier wrote back on April 29, 2026 saying everything had already been provided. According to the complaint, Summit View did not respond.
National Fire alleges Summit View "has failed to cooperate to complete the appraisal process" and wants the court to declare that all amounts owed under the policy for the fire damage have been paid in full.
The allegations have not been tested in court. Summit View has not yet filed a response, and no court has ruled.
