An attempt to be compensated for being "hassled" by an insurance company after a 1996 house fire backfired this week for a Helena area couple, after a jury decided the duo intentionally caused the blaze.

After a four-day trial in U.S. District Court in Helena, it took the seven-member jury about five hours to unanimously decide on Thursday that the Aug. 18, 1996, fire on Norm and Darlene Scott's property was intentionally set by the Scotts.

It was a civil, not criminal trial that was brought to court by the Scotts and their attorney, so the jury's finding doesn't carry any type of criminal penalties.

Lewis and Clark County Attorney Leo Gallagher said he would like to prosecute the Scotts on criminal charges based on new evidence that came to light during the course of the civil trial, but the statute of limitations on property damage is five years.

"There is insurance fraud and so forth, but I believe that also has a five-year statute of limitations from the filing of the claim," Gallagher said on Friday.

However, it's expected that Mountain West Farm Bureau will attempt to recoup the amount it paid out in claims -- $75,000 to cover the burned home, and $52,500 paid out in personal property.

The Scotts moved to the property on Canyon Ferry Drive in 1992 -- well known for the pond and fairies they've placed in the yard during the past few years n and lived in the main house on the 21-acre parcel while they remodeled a second home on the lot. During the days preceding the fire, Norm Scott said he was replacing some parts on the diesel/oil fuel furnace in the basement.

The couple left home on Aug. 16 to go camping in Lincoln with their son, Kurt, who was 26 at the time. He testified that he returned to the family home about 11:30 p.m. Aug. 18, and found flames shooting out of the roof, with local volunteer firefighters trying to extinguish the blaze.

Richard Levandowski, who was the deputy state fire marshal at the time, determined that the fire was "accidental" and its cause was unknown. According to court documents, Norm Scott and Levandowski pointed toward the furnace as the probable cause.

Levandowski later changed his mind and testified at this week's trial on behalf of the insurance company, saying that he believed the fire was intentional.

Unlike Levandowski, investigators with the insurance company were suspicious about the fire's cause right away. Their investigator, Randolph Harris, said he found evidence of "points of origin" for at least three fires, "separate and unconnected" in the basement and on the main floor, and traces of accelerant n evidence that to him strongly pointed toward arson.

Still, the insurance company paid the $75,000 for the claim in full five months later, in January 1997. The couple filed a lawsuit in Lewis and Clark District Court shortly thereafter to try to recoup their personal property losses. In that suit, they also claimed that the insurance company was acting in bad faith.

The $52,500 personal property claim was paid out January 1999, but the bad faith issue was bounced up to federal court, where the trial took place this week. The couple was seeking $100,000 in compensatory damages and $150,000 in punitive damages.

Randy Nelson, an attorney for Mountain West Farm Bureau, said his defense to the bad faith allegation was that the Scotts burned down their own home and weren't entitled to any money in the first place.

"I defended the claim on arson," Nelson said. "Arson is a complete defense for bad faith."

John Doubek, the attorney who represented the Scotts, was surprised at the jury's verdict, especially in light of the fact that the insurance company had investigated the accident and paid out the claim.

"The insurance company agreed to pay, and did pay," Doubek said. "To present this seven years later to a jury that they (the Scotts) were responsible for arson is unbelievable. This thing took a weird turn after the insurance company admitted to their responsibilities and paid them, then were able to convince a jury that he burned his house down. It just isn't so."