A settlement has been reached in the defamation case between Diamond District developer Jason Guillot, left, and Flying Squirrels owner Lou DiBella. (BizSense file image)
A settlement has been reached in the defamation dispute between Richmond Flying Squirrels owner Lou DiBella and Diamond District developer Jason Guillot.
Attorneys for both sides filed a joint notice of settlement with the federal court in Richmond on Tuesday, the day after they participated in a settlement conference that U.S. District Judge David Novak required in the case.
The notice includes a motion to stay all deadlines and proceedings in the case for 10 days to allow the parties to execute a formal settlement agreement. The notice states that the parties signed a memorandum of understanding agreeing to a settlement during the conference Monday.
The settlement would bring an end to the defamation dispute that’s dominated local headlines since late May, when DiBella, the managing general partner of the Squirrels’ ownership group, filed the suit against Guillot and Thalhimer Realty Partners, who are leading the 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 entrance, during a heated exchange between them that occurred during the Squirrels’ first game there April 7.
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’s suit had sought “tens of millions of dollars” in damages and was scheduled for a jury trial next March. Earlier this month, Novak ruled that the case could go to trial but 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.”
This is a breaking news alert and will be updated.
The post Breaking News: Settlement reached in Flying Squirrels’ owner’s developer defamation lawsuit appeared first on Richmond BizSense.
