Six months after the devastating fire that killed seven people in a heritage building in Old Montreal, lawsuits against the city are piling up. The Pointe-à-Callière museum accuses city authorities of being “complacent” with the owner of the burned building and is demanding $3 million for damage caused by the fire.
Published at 4:40 p.m.
In this new lawsuit, filed in Quebec Superior Court, the museum’s management claims the facility suffered up to $3 million in damages when a fire ripped through the heritage-listed building on Place D on March 16 last year ‘Youville destroyed. The damaged building of the lawyer and businessman Émile Benamor is very close to the museum.
The museum and insurer Chubb regret “the city’s failure to adequately inspect the Benamor building” and “the city’s complacency toward Benamor.”
“The Benamor building was described as a fire trap that did not meet standards,” says the statement of claim by lawyers Louis-Philippe Constant and Frédérique Tremblay of the law firm Clyde & Co Canada.
The city of Montreal has already stated that it will not comment on the legal proceedings initiated following the tragedy.
Last week, the owner Émile Benamor himself filed a lawsuit for 7.5 million euros against the city, blaming it for the severity of the fire because it was too weak.
The family of Charlie Lacroix, one of the victims who died in the fire, filed a lawsuit almost simultaneously seeking joint damages from the city of Montreal, Émile Benamor and entrepreneur Tariq Hasan totaling $1.5 They are demanding millions of US dollars to sublet Mr. Benamor’s accommodation on the Airbnb platform.
The family of Nathan Sears, who also died during the tragedy, has already filed a class action lawsuit against Mr. Benamor, Mr. Hasan and the Airbnb company.