A burning home is a sad sight, made all the more devastatingwhen a piece of history is destroyed with it. In one Pennsylvaniatown, locals are mourning the battered façade of a once regalcountry estate after a massive blaze may have ruined itforever.

From the ashes of a powerful fire for which the cause has yet tobe determined arises a lawsuit pinning owner against tenant.Among other allegations, the lawsuit cites insurance fraud,wire fraud, arson, and a staged theft. The 53-page court documentfiled by Jerald Batoff, the owner of the charred mansion,reads more like a screenplay than a lawsuit, complete with aninteresting cast of characters, including a mysteriousso-called socialite from Montreal and her interiordesigner/business mogul boyfriend.

A Fairytale Ends

On April 4, 2012, 100 firefighters responded to a blaze at“Bloomfield,” Batoff's 24,000-square-foot property situated onseven acres just a mere mile away from Villanova University.The Horace Trumbauer-designed mansion features 19 bedrooms, 15baths and formal gardens, which were designed by the OlmsteadBrothers, and is said to epitomize the French Chateau style ofarchitecture reminiscent of the Gilded Age.

Various stakeholders painstakingly restored the mansion to itsoriginal beauty, outfitting the property with the conveniencesof modernity. What would prompt anyone to deliberately tarnish thehistory property? Greed, at least by Batoff's estimation.

That legal document Batoff filed on Nov. 29 has raised more thana few eyebrows in Radnor Township, Penn., where Bloomfield islocated. In it, Batoff alleges the Canadian couple Dean Topolinskiand Julie Charbonneau, who had been occupying the property, hatcheda plot to collect millions in insurance money. He asserts theduo duped him, saying they never had any intention to purchasethe estate listed for $5.2 million. Instead, Topolinskiand Charbonneau strung him along with a $260,000 down payment,monthly lease checks, and other cash siphoned from a company on theverge of collapse, Batoff says.

After numerous setbacks with a previously agreed uponsettlement, the couple requested a long-term lease with an “intentto buy.” The charges only get more inflammatory, as Batoffaccuses the former tenants of engaging in a “pattern ofracketeering activity” dating back to well over a year before thefire. Other allegations include wire fraud, insurance fraud, and afake break-in at Topolinski's company, DGI Services, to collectinsurance money. (The lawsuit asserts the break-in occurred on Nov.13, a day before a scheduled lease signing.)

When the lease was signed, it ostensibly gave the tenants apurported insurable interest under the option topurchase. There is currently no word from the insurer as towhether an investigation is underway; however, the civilsuit alleges the couple dismissed groundskeepers anddisabled the home's security system before the fire to “cover theirtracks.”

The fire marshal ruled the cause “undetermined,” and in May2012, the renters filed an insurance claim and received $1.25million in an advance payoff. The case took another turn in lateOctober, as U.S. District Judge William H. Yohn Jr. issued atemporary restraining order freezing insurance proceeds Batoff hadcollected for the fire. While nothing is as it seems in this shadyscenario, the adage “buyer beware” could certainly apply to theseller in this case. Only time will tell.