The Home Hardware store in Neepawa burned down a little over four years ago, and a judge has ruled the fire was deliberately set by the store's owner, Patrick Guilbert.
The ruling came from a lawsuit filed by Guilbert against his insurance company for not providing coverage in the amount of three million dollars. As a result of the lawsuit, he must now repay tens of thousands of dollars to the insurance company.
In the judge's decision, it was noted that Guilbert conceded a financial motive, as the business was failing at the time.
An investigation by Manitoba's Office of the Fire Commissioner couldn't determine an exact cause of the fire itself.