The owner of a building in Old Montreal, where seven people tragically died in a fire last March, has decided to sue the city for $7.6 million. Emile Benamor, the owner, claims that the city’s rules and regulations regarding heritage properties made it impossible for him to make necessary changes or repairs to the building. Additionally, Benamor alleges that firefighters did not deploy sufficient resources to handle the fire on March 16 and disregarded his warning that there were likely people inside the building.
Benamor has also included city officials, including the mayor, in his lawsuit, accusing them of defamation due to their comments following the fire. In a separate development, the family of Charlie Lacroix, an 18-year-old victim of the fire, has filed a $1.5 million lawsuit against Benamor, the City of Montreal, and an individual who was operating rentals within the building. In August, Montreal police declared the fire a criminal investigation after discovering evidence of accelerant at the scene.
Furthermore, in March, Nathan Sears’ father initiated a $22 million class-action lawsuit against Benamor, short-term rental platform Airbnb, and the person responsible for the building’s rentals. It is important to note that none of the allegations mentioned in the various lawsuits have been scrutinized by a court at this point.