Fans entering CarMax Park on opening night, April 7. (BizSense file photos)
The settlement resolving the defamation lawsuit between Richmond Flying Squirrels owner Lou DiBella and Diamond District developer Jason Guillot has been finalized.
The opponents on Monday jointly filed a proposed order for the judge in the case, U.S. District Judge David Novak, that would bring a formal end to the dispute that began nearly six months ago. The order also notes that the court would retain jurisdiction to enforce the terms of the final settlement agreement, which the parties have agreed to keep confidential.
The filing asks for the case to be dismissed with prejudice, meaning it could not be brought again in Richmond federal court.
The settlement also includes a joint statement that has been made public.
In the statement, obtained by BizSense, DiBella and Guillot say they “regret the opening night incident and the dispute that followed,” referring to the heated exchange between them during the Squirrels’ first game at CarMax Park that led to DiBella suing Guillot for defamation in May.
The statement adds: “The parties want to take this opportunity to clarify that Mr. DiBella did not physically threaten Mr. Guillot or his family. To the extent Mr. Guillot perceived any threat, it was a threat of litigation.” It concludes that the parties “have agreed to amicably resolve the pending litigation in federal court so that everyone can focus on their respective businesses.”
Flying Squirrels President Lou DiBella at a 2022 Diamond District announcement.
The settlement concludes the legal dispute that’s dominated local headlines since DiBella, the managing general partner of the Squirrels’ ownership group, filed the suit against Guillot and Thalhimer Realty Partners, the local firm Guillot works for that’s leading the mixed-use Diamond District development beside CarMax Park.
DiBella claimed Guillot defamed him by allegedly telling Angie Rodgers, director of the Richmond Economic Development Authority that oversees the Diamond District and leases CarMax Park to the Squirrels, that DiBella threatened to kill Guillot and his family if Guillot didn’t agree to sell him a piece of land beside the ballpark’s main entrance that’s planned for a disputed retail building.
However, Guillot and Thalhimer’s response to the suit included a signed declaration from Rodgers that she never said to DiBella that Guillot had told her that DiBella threatened to kill him, and that Guillot never represented to her that DiBella had said the word “kill.” DiBella later amended his suit two times, removing “kill” from certain sections.
Jason Guillot of Thalhimer Realty Partners
The comment at issue was what was described in the suit as an “approximate quote” or “softened paraphrase” from one of DiBella’s favorite movies, the 1982 film “Diner,” in which he allegedly told Guillot, after saying he wouldn’t hit him but that he’d “love to bitch slap” him: “But if I did hit you, I’d hit you so hard, I’d hurt your whole family.” The actual movie quote says: “I’ll hit you so hard, I’ll kill your whole family.”
DiBella maintained that Guillot defamed him when he reported the incident to Rodgers both verbally and in a written memo. His lawsuit, which sought unspecified “tens of millions of dollars” in damages and was scheduled for a jury trial in March, alleged five more counts of defamation based on reports about the exchange from local news outlets, including two by BizSense.
In his memo to Rodgers, Guillot said DiBella told him on opening night that if he didn’t agree to sell the retail building parcel – which is planned to include a sports bar restaurant that DiBella contends would compete with CarMax Park’s concessions – that DiBella “would do everything in his power” to put Guillot’s development group out of business, and that if the group tried to develop the parcel itself, DiBella “would come after (Guillot) and his family with everything he has.”
The altercation occurred during the April 7 opener in a hallway on CarMax Park’s upper level and outside the EDA’s suite, where an incident involving DiBella’s dog preceded the exchange.
The EDA suite during opening night.
In a ruling last month, Novak said the case could proceed to trial, finding that DiBella’s attorneys had alleged “just barely enough” to clear a procedural rule’s “low bar” that required that the court accept DiBella’s allegations as true and view the facts in the most favorable light to him.
However, Novak in his ruling warned the parties that the court “will not look kindly upon any attempt to waste judicial resources for the airing of petty grievances,” adding that the law “cares not for such trifles” and describing the dispute as a “sophomoric soap opera.”
DiBella was represented in the case by Nicholas Brechbill and Carolyn Wesnousky of Alexandria-based Clare Locke. Guillot and Thalhimer were represented by Harold Johnson, Turner Broughton and Amanda Bird-Johnson with Richmond-based Williams Mullen.
Meanwhile, a separate lawsuit from the Squirrels’ ownership group, Navigators Baseball, against the City of Richmond and EDA remains active in Richmond Circuit Court.
In that suit, DiBella and the Navigators claim fraud, alleging that the group was induced to invest tens of millions of dollars above their original commitments to develop CarMax Park based on representations the city and EDA made about the Diamond District and their selected developer, both of which the Navigators claim have changed substantially from when the city awarded the project.
The post Settlement finalized in defamation case between Flying Squirrels owner, Diamond District developer appeared first on Richmond BizSense.
