Flying Squirrels owner makes new allegations in amended defamation lawsuit 

In an amended complaint, Richmond Flying Squirrels owner Lou DiBella lodged new allegations in his defamation lawsuit against Thalhimer Realty Partners and Thalhimer principal Jason Guillot. 

DiBella filed the amended complaint Tuesday in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia — 12 days after U.S. District Judge David J. Novak scheduled a five-day jury trial in the matter for March 2027. 

In the amended complaint, DiBella alleges the defendants made “knowingly false and defamatory statements to Richmond City officials” and singles out Guillot, claiming he told Richmond Economic Development Authority Director Angie Rodgers that DiBella threatened Guillot’s life if Guillot did not sell DiBella a 0.8-acre parcel of land. 

The parcel of land at issue is part of the 67-acre Diamond District project, a $2.4 billion revitalization of a section of Richmond with CarMax Park, the Flying Squirrels’ new stadium, as its centerpiece. The redevelopment is headed up by Thalhimer.  

In his amended complaint, DiBella claims executives at Thalhimer offered a “false” description of an argument that occurred during the April 7 opening night baseball game at CarMax Park. 

The amended complaint contains seven counts of defamation, up from one in DiBella’s initial May 28 suit. The seven counts include one for Guillot’s alleged oral statements to an official, one for a memo he sent to the City of Richmond detailing his account of the exchange and five for reports by five Richmond-area news outlets about the memo. 

DiBella said in the lawsuit that he and his business partner Larry Botel learned from former Flying Squirrels executive Todd Parnell that Thalhimer had engaged with him about naming a business in the Diamond District after him — specifically a sports bar in the 0.8-acre parcel at issue.  

The latest filing claims that Parnell was surprised because the city previously represented that the parcel would not be used in a way that could compete with the Squirrels’ concessions. 

The amended complaint claims Botel, Guillot and DiBella met at the April 7 game and discussed the Diamond District development project and the 0.8-acre parcel, with DiBella outlining concerns with the project. The conversation eventually got heated, according to the complaint. 

DiBella claimed that as he was leaving, Guillot “goaded” him, asking “What, are you going to hit me?” DiBella alleges he responded “Of course not, I would never do that. But if I did hit you, I’d hit you so hard, I’d hurt your whole family.” The quote is claimed to be an “approximate quote” from one of his favorite movies, the 1982 comedy-drama “Diner.” (The actual quote from the movie is, “I’ll hit you so hard, I’ll kill your whole family.”) 

“DiBella intended this as a joke,” the lawsuit states. “It was not meant as an actual or serious threat. And no reasonable person could have perceived it as such.” 

The amended complaint alleges that Rodgers called DiBella on April 9 and “conveyed to him that she had heard ‘a serious allegation’ about DiBella.” 

Specifically, the complaint alleges Rodgers said to DiBella that Guillot told her he “threatened [Guillot’s] life and fam[ily]” if the 0.8-acre parcel was not sold to DiBella. 

The amended complaint contains an exhibit showing handwritten notes that the complaint states DiBella took following the call with Rodgers. The notes, on Minor League Baseball letterhead, state that Rodgers said Guillot claimed he threatened his life and family’s life and that DiBella told Rodgers the claim was false. 

In a June 18 formal response to the original complaint, Thalhimer Realty Partners denied Guillot told city officials that DiBella made a threat against him. That filing included a signed declaration from Rodgers stating that Guillot “never represented to me that Lou DiBella ‘threatened to kill Guillot and his family if Guillot did not sell DiBella’” the parcel. 

DiBella’s amended complaint also focuses on an April 8 memo written by the defendants, which states in relevant part that he and Botel “cornered” Guillot on April 7 and said that if he and Diamond District Partners did not sell the parcel, then DiBella “would do everything in his power to put DDP out of business” and that he “would come after Jason [Guillot] and his family with everything he has.” 

The amended complaint calls the statements “false statements of fact.” 

“There is a stark difference between DiBella’s literally impossible, conditional, hyperbolic, non-threat with no extortion demand and Defendants’ claims that DiBella made a serious felony threat to extort land,” the amended complaint states. 

The complaint adds that the defendants “knew when they published this memo … that it would be provided to the media in response to public records requests” and that “a natural and probable consequence of Defendant’s publication of this memo” was it being reported on by local media. 

DiBella’s amended complaint reiterates a demand of “tens of millions of dollars” in damages. 

On July 9, Novak referred the case to U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark R. Colombell for settlement purposes and ordered a settlement conference be scheduled no later than Nov. 20.