MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — A lawsuit has been filed against Morgantown Deputy Mayor Brian Butcher for alleged defamation against a local developer that included claims of threats to physically harm a public official and their family members.
Metro Properties developer David Biafora filed the lawsuit in Monongalia County Circuit Court seeking $1.25 million in damages, where he claims that Butcher intentionally made defamatory and slanderous statements motivated by “his anti-capitalist desire to wreck the reputation of the plaintiff and to otherwise cause others not to associate with the plaintiff in any real estate ventures within Monongalia County specifically.”
In the lawsuit, Biafora claims that Butcher published and communicated accusations via text message to fellow Morgantown-based developer and business acquaintance James Giuliani in June that claimed that the main developer of the planned East End Village just north of downtown Morgantown was a “violent crook” and “federal criminal” who “threatened to kill him and his family.”
The lawsuit included eight separate incidents of either “lies and slanderous and defamatory statements” that were made during the message chain, which included claims made by Butcher that stated that business associates of Biafora were “violent crooks” and that Biafora himself is a “violent psychopath.” The suit mentioned Biafora’s son Alex, his brother Richard A. Biafora, and two nephews, Joseph and Richard A. Biafora Jr., as well as the North Central West Virginia Business Association, which joined the suit as an interested third party.
The suit also alleges that Butcher published these statements to a number of people outside of the messages with Giuliani. Biafora alleges that Butcher, through his comments, “purposefully, and part and parcel to, a maliciously motivated and calculated strategy, sought to disrupt funding on the project by slandering and defaming Mr. Biafora and his partner’s and business interests.”
A jury trial was requested as part of the lawsuit. Wheeling-based attorney Mark Kepple is representing Biafora as part of the complaint.
Butcher denied the allegations in his response to the lawsuit filed last Friday. He said he did not make “purposefully defamatory and slanderous statements and/or anti-capitalist desire to wreck the reputation of Biafora and to otherwise cause others not to associate with him.”
In the nine-page response, Butcher admitted to sending messages to Giuliani but denied making “any defamatory or slanderous statements to individuals located within Monongalia County.” This included a separate denial of saying anything defamatory against the North Central West Virginia Business Association.
In the response filed by Charleston-based attorney David M. Adkins, Butcher also offered seven affirmative defenses, including the “complaint failing to state a claim where relief can be granted”. Along with that, Butcher also requested a jury trial as part of the defense with a formal plea to dismiss the suit with prejudice was included in the response, which included claims to recovering costs, expenses of the suit, and reasonable attorney’s fees necessary in defending the lawsuit.
The City of Morgantown is not named in the lawsuit.