Man sued after torching hotel in fit of vengeance

The owners of the former Rennie Hotel, destroyed in a fire more than two years ago, are suing the man convicted of sparking the blaze.

In a statement of claim filed Dec. 27 in the Court of King’s Bench, Umaben and Prashant Kumar Bilimoria accused arsonist Pelle Lambiase of shuffling realty assets to avoid paying them restitution.

Lambiase pleaded guilty to torching their hotel and an attached postal office in a fit of drunken rage in December 2022.

The plaintiffs allege Lambiase committed a “fraudulent conveyance” when he sold 95 per cent of his stake in a property in the RM of Reynolds to a numbered company for $1.

He previously owned half of the lot, they said, and land titles records show the deal went through 19 days after he was arrested by RCMP.

The lot was to be sold to another owner for $160,000 this month, but the plaintiffs said they were only offered five per cent of the sale ($8,000) because of Liambiase’s move.

“The defendant conspired to deprive the defendant’s creditors, in particular, the plaintiffs, of the proceeds of the sale,” said the claim.

“The defendants obtained a benefit, in particular, not having to pay out the restitution owed … The plaintiffs have been correspondingly, and unfairly deprived.”

The claim argued the deal between Lambiase and the numbered company should be considered void. Among other things, it asked the court to revert the property ownership back to a 50-50 split.

Lambiase was sentenced to two years in prison in May, and ordered to pay the Bilimorias $62,000. The Rennie man, who was 65 years old and living off Canada Pension Plan payments at the time, later filed for bankruptcy.

In a notice of motion heard Tuesday, the plaintiffs asked a Manitoba judge to grant an injunction against Lambiase that would prevent him from profiting from the sale of the property.

Justice Herbert Rempel, who reviewed the request, opted to set the motion aside while the bankruptcy claim is ongoing.

The statement of claim also seeks $175,500 plus additional damages.

It said the plaintiffs suffered a nearly $200,000 loss in the wake of the arson, including demolition fees, loss of operating profit and destroyed merchandise.

The owners purchased the hotel 18 months before the fire. It contained rooms for rent, a restaurant on the main floor and a convenience store. The business was closed for a month leading up to the fire but contained tens of thousands of dollars worth of alcohol and product, the lawsuit said.

The claim has not been tested in court, and Lambiase has not filed a statement of defence.

The numbered company is not named as a defendant.

It was revealed during court proceedings that Lambiase was intoxicated and fuelled by revenge when he torched the hotel.

Lambiase, who was a chef at a nearby restaurant that was owned by a friend, was angry at the hotel owners in relation to an argument and physical altercation between them and his friend. Drunk and high on opiates, he carried a satchel into the post office, doused the building in lighter fluid and set it ablaze, court heard.

He confessed to RCMP three months later, after officers showed him surveillance video in which he was seen lighting the fire.

Prashant Kumar Bilimoria did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca

Tyler Searle
Reporter

Tyler Searle is a multimedia producer who writes for the Free Press‘s city desk. A graduate of Red River College Polytechnic’s creative communications program, he wrote for the Stonewall Teulon Tribune, Selkirk Record and Express Weekly News before joining the paper in 2022.  Read more about Tyler.

Every piece of reporting Tyler produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.

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