Latest news with #Duplessis
Montreal Gazette
25-06-2025
- Montreal Gazette
Owner of Old Montreal building where 7 died in fire guilty of having faulty emergency exits in N.D.G. property
News By The owner of the Old Montreal building where seven people died in a fire two years ago has been found guilty of failing to ensure one of his other properties had functional emergency exits. In a decision issued last week, a Montreal municipal court judge found Emile Benamor made little effort to ensure the exits were accessible, rejecting his argument that he couldn't access the units in question. 'The risk of serious harm resulting from these breaches is high in the event of a fire, as they jeopardize the safety and lives of residents,' Judge Johanne Duplessis ruled on June 19. Benamor, a lawyer who owns several properties in Montreal, made headlines in March 2023 when the Place d'Youville building he owned in Old Montreal burned down, killing seven people. The three-storey building consisted of 15 rental units, many of which were rented out on Airbnb. It had previously been found to have multiple fire code violations, including blocked and 'dead-end' secondary exits. In October 2024, another building Benamor owned in Old Montreal that housed a 20-room hostel was set ablaze. A mother and her seven-year-old daughter were killed in that fire. Two men were arrested and charged with second-degree murder. The recent municipal court case focuses on a three-storey building Benamor owns on Hampton Ave. in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce. The inspection behind the case took place in March 2023, about a week after the first deadly Old Montreal fire. City inspectors found that doors leading to emergency exits in two of the units were faulty. One didn't have a handle, and the other was entirely sealed with adhesive tape. In court, Benamor argued that he owns several buildings and inspects them from the outside every morning. He explained that he has owned the building on Hampton Ave. since 2019 or 2020, but the two tenants involved have never let him enter their units. He said he was never notified about the door handle or the adhesive tape and that he couldn't notice the issues from the outside. Duplessis dismissed his argument, ruling he should have made more of an effort. 'The defendant's testimony shows that he never took any concrete steps with the tenants' to ensure there were no issues with the emergency exits, Duplessis wrote. 'How is it possible to confirm that an emergency exit is in good condition without checking that the exit doors that form part of it are functioning properly?' she added. Duplessis said she was surprised to hear Benamor admit that he has never been inside the units since purchasing the building. She noted that had he wanted to access them to be sure they were up to code, he could have taken steps with Quebec's housing tribunal. 'A reasonable person in the defendant's circumstances would not have limited themselves to external visual inspections,' the judge added. Benamor was ticketed under a municipal bylaw concerning fire safety. A first offence carries a fine ranging from $500 to $1,000. Repeat offenders can be subject to fines reaching $2,000. Benamor did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday. Reached by phone, the lawyer who represented him in the case declined to comment. The Place d'Youville fire resulted in several ongoing lawsuits, including from the families of the victims. Police have said the fire was criminally set, but no charges have been laid. A coroner's inquest into the fire remains on hold until the criminal process is resolved.
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Homeowners tax credit bill killed, no relief for low-income homeowners
NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — A bill designed to save Louisiana residents money on their homeowner's insurance is dead at the state legislature. As the legislative session winds down to Thursday's adjournment, the House vetoed Senate Bill 235, which would have assisted low-income homeowners in tax credits. City of New Orleans, Orleans Parish School Board back in court involving $90M negotiation Senator Royce Duplessis, who sponsored the bill, called it unfortunate. 'I can assure you that the people of Louisiana would have wanted this bill to pass,' Duplessis said. 'And if the people of Louisiana had a voice and a vote, they would have passed it overwhelmingly. So, unfortunately, another good policy was shot down by justifications that are not good enough.' Families of four making less than $64,000 could have been eligible to claim up to $2,000 in a tax credit. Those making less than $25,000 would receive a cash rebate to help cover their insurance costs. Housing Louisiana President Andreanecia Morris says this was an immediate need to help people, especially as we see population loss. 'We're seeing thousands of people leave Louisiana, some voluntarily and some not voluntarily,' Morris said. 'A lot of people gotten a notice just in the last few weeks and have seen their insurance rate for the second, third, fourth year in a row, significantly increase.' Louisiana bill would allow concealed guns at parades Originally the bill was capped at $10 million but the House dropped it, capping it at $1 million. Morris calls it a slap in the face to the people who, time and time again, are told to be resilient after a storm. 'People are tired of that word being applied to them by leaders who could make their communities resilient, who could put resilient systems in place so that they don't have to just roll with the punches,' said Morris. Duplessis said he will continue to fight for insurance relief. 'We're going to continue to have conversations and work on solutions to try to bring relief to people,' Duplessis said. 'But we are getting towards the final hours of the session. So, we're going to continue to have conversations to see what could potentially be.'Partners for Stennis and Michoud raise concerns about proposed NASA budget cuts Heavy rain moving through Tuesday evening Trump's 'big, beautiful bill' gets boost from LA immigration protests Homeowners tax credit bill killed, no relief for low-income homeowners Police arrest man accused of woman's shooting death in Baton Rouge Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Yahoo
Orleans mother suspects foul play in daughter's Riverwalk death
NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — 20-year-old Jameshia Selders went out in New Orleans with a group of friends but never returned home. According to the Coast Guard, Selders fell into the Mississippi river by the Riverwalk at around 1 a.m. and has not been found since. 'Somebody just help me find my daughter,' Duplessis said. 'It's important to me if I can just get my daughter back with the family and get my daughter a decent burial funeral.'' Two killed in Jefferson Parish car crash Duplessis says that her final conversations with her daughter were normal. Selders even said she would be home that night. Just hours later though, Duplessis received the worst phone call of her life. The coast guard would then spend hours searching but to no avail. 'We had people out here searching with helicopters,' Duplessis said. 'It was late. They tried. We shut down at 3 something in the morning. They said they would come back out in the morning and try to find my daughter. Still not getting any answers.' West Nile Virus detected in New Orleans mosquitoes, city expands control measures According to Duplessis, Selders' friends say that she jumped in. However, Duplessis claims there is more to the story. She believes that her daughter was killed by those she was with. 'My daughter would never throw herself in the river,' Duplessis said. 'My daughter knows how to swim and she's not just going to throw herself in the river. She didn't have any problems.' Duplessis claims that some of Selders' friends have acted suspicious since that night such as deleting social media accounts. 'I mean I got some that deactivated their Instagram page, deactivated their Facebook page,' Duplessis said. 'I mean if you had nothing to do with it, why would you deactivate your information.' As of today, the NOPD has ruled the death a suicide. However, the report for the incident is mother suspects foul play in daughter's Riverwalk death West Nile Virus detected in New Orleans mosquitoes, city expands control measures Two killed in Jefferson Parish car crash Hardline House conservatives swing for fences in asks to Senate GOP on megabill Start times for Men's College World Series revealed Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Black America Web
26-05-2025
- Politics
- Black America Web
Louisiana Senate Vetoes Retrial Bill For People Convicted By Split Juries
Source: HPphoto / Getty The Louisiana Senate reaffirmed its commitment to Jim Crow-era practices this week by vetoing a bill that would've allowed incarcerated people convicted under split jury verdicts to seek a retrial. According to AP, the bill failed on a 9-26 vote that fell along party lines. The bill was authored by state Sen. Royce Duplessis (D) and would've added split jury convictions to the list of claims an incarcerated person could seek a retrial. There are an estimated 1,500 men and women currently incarcerated in Louisiana as a result of split jury convictions, 80 percent of whom are Black. 'If we choose to vote down this bill, we're saying that justice has an expiration date,' Duplessis told his colleagues during debate over the measure. 'We have an opportunity in Louisiana to remove this stain, because right now we are the only ones wearing it.' Split jury convictions were found unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 2020, which acknowledged the racist origins of the practice and found it violated defendants' constitutional rights. At the time of the ruling, the only states that still allowed them were Oregon and Louisiana. For its part, Oregon's Supreme Court voted in 2022 to allow the then-400 people incarcerated through split jury convictions to seek a retrial. Conversely, the Louisiana Supreme Court voted to reject retroactively applying the Supreme Court's decision that same year. Split jury convictions were a cornerstone of Jim Crow policies and were inherently designed to uphold white supremacy. This isn't an opinion; split jury convictions were introduced in 1898 in the Louisiana State Constitution, a framework explicitly designed to 'reestablish the supremacy of the white race,' after the Civil War. Source: Kansuda Kaewwannarat / Getty Split jury convictions in particular were implemented to ensure that even if Black people were on a jury, their voices wouldn't sway the outcome of a case. This was a multilayered tactic as it allowed Black people to be convicted of felonies under questionable circumstances, which in turn would strip them of their voting rights. These verdicts were and still are used to strip Black people of both their freedom and political power. Knowing that history, it's hard not to look at the Louisiana Senate with a significant amount of side-eye. Their arguments against the measure were incredibly shallow, stating that they didn't want to overburden the courts and district attorneys. They choose not to rectify an explicitly racist, unconstitutional tactic…because of court scheduling. I would respect it more if they stopped playing in our faces and just said the quiet part out loud. Those in favor of the bill countered that it wouldn't automatically allow for a retrial; it simply would've provided a pathway for those incarcerated under split jury convictions, and that retrials would be granted under the discretion of the district attorneys. The fact that this move came as the Louisiana House of Representatives passed an anti-DEI bill that was widely viewed by the Black caucus as racist just goes to show how regressive the Louisiana state legislature is across the board. Making the veto even more egregious is the fact that a recent poll showed that the majority of Louisiana voters were in favor of the measure passing. So this clearly wasn't about doing what was in the best interest of their constituents. It was about reminding Black people how little their freedom matters to those in power. Whether it's 1898 or 2025, the playbook remains the same, and sadly, Louisiana will have to continue wearing this stain. SEE ALSO: Trump Administration Targets DEI Initiatives at Colleges California Teen Spurs Outrage With Racist Promposal SEE ALSO Louisiana Senate Vetoes Retrial Bill For People Convicted By Split Juries was originally published on Black America Web Featured Video CLOSE
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Louisiana won't switch from an elected insurance commissioner to an appointed one
From left, Reps. Jerome Zeringue, R-Houma, and Royce Duplessis, D-New Orleans, in the Louisiana House of Representative, Feb. 2, 2022. (Greg LaRose/Louisiana Illuminator) Legislation to convert Louisiana's insurance commissioner from an elected office into an appointed one stalled on the state Senate floor Tuesday when the author of the proposal realized it was likely to fail. Senate Bill 214 would have let the next governor, subject to Senate approval, appoint the state's next insurance commissioner to a six-year term, with a limit of two terms. Under current law, the commissioner is chosen every four years through the same statewide election when voters select a governor. It is one of only two statewide elected offices that can be changed into an appointed position without a constitutional amendment though still requires two-thirds support from lawmakers. The other is the commissioner of agriculture. The proposal would have allowed current Insurance Commissioner Tim Temple to run for re-election before the move to an appointed office holder. Just a week ago, the bill cleared the Senate Committee on Insurance with unanimous support. On Tuesday, however, its author, Sen. Royce Duplessis, D-New Orleans, pulled the bill as opposition mounted from certain Republicans. In an interview, he said he started counting votes and decided it might be better to replace his bill with a resolution that would create a task force to study the issue. 'It was never a bill that I thought would have unanimous support,' Duplessis said. 'Some people want the status quo … I just don't think I had the numbers. It would have been close.' While presenting the bill on the floor, Duplessis told colleagues there's good reason for certain state officials to be appointed rather than elected. He mentioned the secretaries of the health and environmental quality departments as important offices that should be insulated from the politics of elected office. 'I think that some roles are so specialized and technical that they shouldn't be politicized,' he said. Very few voters pay attention to the office of insurance commissioner, Duplessis said, pointing out that Temple ran for office unopposed. Republicans have generally been supportive of Temple, a former insurance executive who is opposed to Duplessis' bill and has lobbied for legislation with the backing of insurance companies. Democrats, on the other hand, have been critical of the commissioner's cozy relationship with the industry he's charged with regulating and believe Temple could do more to rein in high premiums. The one big exception to that partisan alignment is Gov. Jeff Landry, who has been publicly feuding with Temple over the causes of the insurance crisis in Louisiana. Even with his reelection bid still two years away, the governor has incentive to deflect any blame voters might lay at his feet for insurance costs even though the crisis began before he took office in 2024. Temple and the companies he regulates have long claimed personal injury lawsuits are driving the state's high insurance premiums. He has advocated for so-called 'tort reform' laws that give insurance companies certain protections or advantages in litigation. Tort reform efforts in previous years have failed to reduce insurance rates, though Temple and his supporters have said those measures were not strong enough. Gov. Landry's approach to lower insurance rates could cast his political fate Duplessis' bill had the backing of some conservative Republicans, such as Sen. Stewart Cathey of Monroe. Cathey added the amendment to require Senate confirmation of the governor's pick for commissioner. But as other Republicans lined up to speak against the bill, debate started to sour when Sen. Adam Bass of Bossier City accused Duplessis of trying to strip away voters' rights. 'What other voting rights are you interested in taking away from the citizens?' Bass asked Duplessis. Duplessis rejected the characterization and said he only wants to address the state's insurance crisis with novel proposals. He noted 39 other states have appointed, rather than elected, insurance commissioners. Among the 10 states with the lowest auto insurance rates in the country, nine of them have appointed commissioners, he added. 'I am someone who generally believes in the power of elections and the will of the people,' Duplessis said. 'But when something isn't working and the outcomes are consistently failing consumers and driving up costs, we have to be honest enough to say it's time to do something different.' Sen. Kirk Talbot, R-River Ridge, spoke against the bill, though he said he authored similar legislation years ago. He said he studied the issue and eventually concluded the elected system 'was the better way to go.' Talbot repeated a statistic that Temple often cites from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, which indicates there were more bodily injury claims from auto accidents in Louisiana with a population of roughly 4.5 million, than there were in the state of New York with a population of over 19 million in 2021, which is the most recent data available. 'That's what needs to be addressed, not this,' Talbot said. 'And that's what we are addressing with this vast package of tort reform bills that the commissioner has supported.' Still, that same source indicates the dollar value of the incurred losses of Louisiana's claims was less than half that of New York's and roughly equal to the losses in Arkansas where liability premiums were the lowest out of all the southern states. Other states with more injury claims than New York included North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida and California. Louisiana's insurance commissioner was originally an appointed position when the post was created in 1957. Gov. Earl K. Long supported the launch of a state insurance department, separating its functions from the office of one of his political adversaries, Secretary of State Wade O. Martin. The very first appointed commissioner, Rufus Hayes, became the first elected one for his second term. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
