Crime & Safety

Mansion Fire Lawsuit Settlement Gives Both Sides Cash

The deal means both sides get more money than either paid for the Villanova estate.

 

One year after a fire did major damaged an historic Villanova mansion, an arson lawsuit has been settled.

Philly.com reports that:

Find out what's happening in Radnorwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Four months after accusing a Canadian couple of scheming to buy - and then burn down - his famed 19-bedroom Main Line mansion in an insurance-fraud plot, a Radnor Township man has decided to drop his legal battle with the pair and split the proceeds.

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 Horace Trumbauer.

Find out what's happening in Radnorwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Jerald S. Batoff, a real estate executive who had lived on the estate since 2001, will keep more than $7 million of the $18.5 million insurance payout. Dean Topolinski, the Toronto businessman Batoff accused of arson and racketeering, will get the remaining $11 million plus the bucolic seven-acre tract about a mile west of Villanova University.

Read the rest of this article on Philly.com.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

To request removal of your name from an arrest report, submit these required items to arrestreports@patch.com.