RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — A Richmond Flying Squirrels owner has amended his defamation lawsuit against a Diamond District developer and his company, adding allegations that they made false statements about him in an April 8 memo sent to city officials.
In an amended complaint filed on Tuesday, July 21, Lou DiBella, managing general partner of the Richmond Flying Squirrels, expanded on his defamation claims over a heated exchange that took place during CarMax’s opening night on Tuesday, April 7, following an incident involving DiBella’s dog.
DiBella filed the initial defamation lawsuit on Thursday, May 28, accusing Jason Guillot and his company, Thalhimer Realty Partners Inc, of falsely claiming DiBella threatened him and his family during this encounter.
On Thursday, April 9, Guillot allegedly told Angie Rodgers, the director of Economic Development for Richmond’s Economic Development Authority (EDA), that DiBella threatened to kill Guillot and his family if Guillot did not sell DiBella a certain parcel of land, according to court documents.
The lawsuit claims that DiBella’s comment — which was actually a quote from the 1982 film “Diner” — was only intended as a joke. The suit then states that “no reasonable person would have interpreted the remark as a real threat.”
“Guillot’s statement is false, and Guillot knew it was false when he made it,” said Nicholas J. Brechbill, a lawyer for DiBella, in the initial suit.
The amended complaint filed on Tuesday is nearly twice as...
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