Lawsuit: Indian Hill couple misrepresented fire claims

An insurance company is suing the owners of an Indian Hill mansion that burned down last year, accusing them of hiding details about the fire and exaggerating the value of property lost in the blaze.

Chubb National Insurance Co. filed the federal lawsuit last week in response to a suit the homeowners filed against the company earlier this year. The company claims the homeowners, Jeffrey and Maria Decker, made false statements about their losses in the fire, their financial condition at the time of the fire and their whereabouts before the fire was reported at their $4 million home on Cunningham Road on Jan. 10, 2014.

Chubb says the company's internal investigation found that Jeffrey Decker let his two dogs out of the house before leaving the day of the fire, and that cell phone records show he was at or near the family home about 16 minutes before the fire was reported.

The lawsuit says Decker previously had claimed to be miles away at a construction site when the fire broke out.

Chubb's lawsuit also said the house was equipped with a fire alarm that would have notified authorities and been audible outside the house, but neither neighbors nor police heard the alarm.

"Jeffrey Decker and Maria Decker ... intentionally concealed and misrepresented material facts," the lawsuit claims.

The Ohio State Fire Marshal's Office still is investigating the cause of the fire.

The Deckers sued Chubb in February for $60 million in damages, claiming the company had failed to honor the couple's insurance claims "without reasonable justification."

The spectacular fire took more than seven hours to extinguish and destroyed about 90 percent of the house. The 10,000-square-foot home was built in 2006 and had 22 rooms, including five bedrooms, seven full bathrooms, three half bathrooms, an elevator and a swimming pool. The stone house sat on more than 5 acres and was valued at more than $4 million, according to the Hamilton County auditor.

The company's lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati.