BOISE, Idaho — A homeowner says she was surprised to discover that a man she thought was renting her house, with plans to buy it, had demolished it instead.

Years later, Shammie Fisher is fighting in court to get compensation for the ruined house in North Boise.

The Idaho Supreme Court in May sided with Fisher in her appeal of a lower-court ruling that her insurance company did not have to cover the loss. The court sent the ruling back to the district court for reconsideration.

“I’ve never seen a case like this. I really haven’t,” said Fisher’s lawyer, James G. Reid of the Boise law firm Kaufman Reid. “I’ve seen cases where people will enter into a sales contract and allow somebody to rent it for a certain amount of time, until they can get financing or money to complete the sale.”

But that’s not what happened to Fisher. According to court records:

Fisher’s 1,152-square-foot midcentury house on North 34th Street was covered under an insurance policy with Garrison Property and Casualty Insurance Co. After she got married, she decided to sell the house.

Ron Reynoso was interested in buying it. Reynoso, who lived in the Treasure Valley at the time, signed a one-year purchase agreement in January 2012. The deal allowed him to rent the home starting that March, with the expectation of buying it.

Their agreement said Reynoso essentially planned to flip the house, making “certain improvements” and selling it by March 31, 2013, with the possibility of a six-month extension.

Reynoso then leveled the place.

“With the first two months, I was notified that the entire home had been destroyed ... including the structure and the fixtures therein,” Fisher wrote in an affidavit. “I had no knowledge that Mr. Reynosa [sic] intended to destroy the home when he leased the property, and he was not authorized to do so.”

To read the full story, visit the Idaho Statesman.

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