CHESTER – Former Town of Chester Supervisor Robert Valentine has filed a defamation lawsuit against three of his former political rivals, claiming they slandered him and made false statements about him and his company as part of an orchestrated hit job.
The suit was filed in Orange County Supreme Court on behalf of Valentine and his construction company, Valcon America Corp. Named as defendants are Town of Chester Supervisor Brandon Holdridge and Councilmen Bob Courtenay, Thomas Becker, and Larry Dysinger, who died in December after a battle with cancer.
Valentine’s attorney, Corinne Mullen, did not return a phone call seeking comment for this story. Holdridge said the town has not been served with any lawsuit from Valentine.
The suit accuses the defendants of libel, slander, tortious interference with contract, tortious interference with economic advantage, and civil harassment, stemming from, among other things, allegations that Valentine and his company are corrupt and otherwise guilty of criminal conduct.
Valentine’s suit alleges that the defendants posted defamatory signs outside Valcon and his work sites, calling him “corrupt.” Holdridge, a Democrat, and Courtenay, a Republican, held a news conference less than a month before the November 2023 election, alleging that Valentine may have used his position to benefit his family’s trucking and excavating company, as well as himself, on projects such as the Greens at Chester.
Valentine denied the charges. Both Holdridge and Courtenay called for an investigation of Valentine by the Orange County District Attorney’s Office. A review by the DA’s Office last summer found “no overt signs of criminal activity” by Valentine.
The lawsuit also alleges:
• The defendants sent mailers falsely claiming that Valentine “hosted a late-night drunken rager where a town employee was arrested for assaulting a police officer” and that he was “indicted for leaving the scene of an accident” in Chester.
• The defendants made false allegations that Valentine stole town property and lied to prosecutors in an attempt to have him arrested.
• Dysinger informed Holdridge that he believed the Valentine mailers constituted “mudslinging.”
As a result, Mullen wrote in her filing that Valentine has suffered and will continue to suffer economic injury, mental anguish, humiliation, shame, and damage to his reputation. The suit also states that Valentine has lost business, profits, and contracts due to the defendants’ false claims.
The suit does not specify how much money Valentine is seeking in damages.