Pa. Man Drops Lawsuit Over Mansion Fire, Will Split $18.5M
By John P. Martin, The Philadelphia Inquirer |
Disclosed in court records, the deal means both sides get far more cash than either paid, or ever offered to pay, for the estate designed by
And though the accord quashes the litigation, it might not end questions over the
"No one has given me anything that would cause me to change my ruling," Wood said in an interview.
The settlement proposal, pending approval of a
Batoff and his new counsel declined to comment.
In a statement released Wednesday by their lawyers, Topolinski and Charbonneau stressed that no independent investigation had upheld Batoff's claims of arson, allegations their lawyers called "wildly overblown" and vicious attempts to smear them. The couple's statement said they were pleased with the deal.
"From
If the fire was a historic event for the ordinarily sedate township -- more than 100 firefighters battled it -- the aftermath was even less predictable.
In December, Batoff, son of former Democratic fund-raiser
He asserted in a federal racketeering lawsuit that he had been the victim of an elaborate insurance-fraud plot hatched by Topolinski, a prominent businessman with varied interests including a printing plant in Swedesboro, and Charbonneau, an interior designer from
The suit claimed the couple had agreed in 2011 to buy the property for
Batoff paid
Topolinski and Charbonneau moved in and began making lease payments, but dragged their feet on the sale, Batoff claimed, because their goal was something grander: at least
The suit alleged the pair had dismissed the groundskeepers, disabled the security and surveillance system, and were responsible for a fire that started in a basement corner near the circuit panel that was certain to destroy the place but that would look like a wiring malfunction.
The suit accused Topolinski of orchestrating a similar insurance fraud in connection with vandalism at the
And it said Topolinski and Charbonneau waited until the dust had settled -- and the fire marshal made his ruling -- before asserting that their sales agreement made them the rightful property owners and thus deserving of any insurance payout.
They won a significant victory on that front when U.S. District Judge
Yohn had been overseeing the litigation and the case seemed headed for trial. Last month, Topolinski's lawyers turned over more than 17,000 records and documents to Batoff's counsel, records show.
But things abruptly changed last week. On
One, former Philadelphia Assistant Fire Marshal
The second expert,
The same day, Rosen and his partners on the case withdrew as lawyers for Batoff.
Reached by phone on Tuesday, Rosen declined to elaborate except to say: "The client is the person charged with making the business decisions on when and if he wants to accept a settlement, and that is his sole prerogative."
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