Charlottesville engineer Justin Shimp, the public face of an aborted plan to build an apartment complex along the Rivanna River, has filed a multimillion-dollar defamation lawsuit against two men who publicly attacked the project.
The 245-unit residential development, known only as 0 E. High St., was planned for the former fairgrounds sitting in a flood plain of the Rivanna River at the northern tip of the city’s Woolen Mills neighborhood. But the plans were quashed a year ago, when the city of Charlottesville bought out the developer.
Shimp’s lawsuit was filed earlier this month in Albemarle County Circuit Court.
"This suit is filed to end the defendants’ repeated, bad-faith publication of defamatory falsehoods," according to the Dec. 4 complaint against University of Virginia engineering professor James F. Groves and lawyer and retired engineer Henry H. Perritt Jr.
Shimp, founder and principal of Shimp Engineering, alleges the two men libeled him when they accused him of misrepresenting his expertise, failing to disclose conflicts of interest and lying in public filings and forums.
"Perritt’s and Groves’ accusations of unethical and deceitful conduct strike at the core of Mr. Shimp’s reputation as a forthright and precise individual with a genuine interest in thoughtfully and responsibly developing buildable land," the suit reads. "Mr. Shimp files this suit to clear his name and correct the record."
Shimp has faced criticism for obtaining a federal flood map adjustment from the Federal Emergency Management Agency about five months before the plans for the apartment complex were announced. That March 2022 adjustment reset the boundaries of the 100-year flood plain closer to the river and indicated that the development would not increase the height of floodwaters by more than a foot, which is FEMA’s standard.
Shimp also faced pushback over how he might benefit from approval of the apartment complex. In the suit, Shimp concedes that seven years ago, on an unrelated project, he profited by getting a flood map adjustment that bolstered the value of land he quietly contracted to buy on Nassau Street in the city. But the controversial Rivanna-adjacent apartment complex would have been owned by Seven Development, a firm owned by Edward "Bo" Carrington, and it’s not apparent how Shimp would have profited beyond earning engineering fees.
The suit, signed by lawyer S. Addison Day, names several instances of alleged defamation: that Shimp intentionally misrepresented the region’s flood history, that he misrepresented his role in getting the map adjustment and that he "had a substantial personal economic interest in the property" that he did not disclose.
The suit, which seeks total damages of $6.35 million, notes that Shimp ran, unsuccessfully, for a seat on the Nelson County Board of Supervisors in 2017 with "Commit to Honesty and Total Transparency" as his campaign slogan.
"Defendants’ allegations," the complaint reads, "are fundamentally inconsistent with Mr. Shimp’s personal ethics and history as a voice in frequent dialogue with members of the public about various aspects of development."
While the apartment project was criticized at public meetings before it was ultimately killed, Shimp claims the two defendants levied false allegations against him even after the city bought out the developer. Their 636-page complaint to the Virginia Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation was filed Dec. 5, 2023, five days after the city took title to the property by buying out the developer for $5.9 million.
The department’s public file on Shimp’s engineering license shows the case was closed on July 11 with no disciplinary action.
"This decision is unlikely to age well," Groves wrote in a next-day letter to the department. "This is an incredible miscarriage of justice and a failure to apply the state’s engineering ethics code reasonably to protect the public."
The development was polarizing.
While plans called for clustering three multistory residential buildings on 24 acres near Caroline Avenue, they also would have kept 80% of the tract undeveloped, allowing for the popular riverside Rivanna Trail to remain undisturbed.
But the scheme drew criticism for encroaching on the river’s 100-year flood plain with a concrete wall standing up to 18 feet high and backfilled with earth for asphalt parking lots.
Over the course of several letters, Groves contended that Shimp improperly prioritized technical analysis over actual floods in the area and should have named FEMA, Albemarle County and the city of Charlottesville as additional "clients" during his analysis.
Shimp claims that Groves and Perritt persisted in attacking his engineering license despite "overwhelming disagreement from professional authorities who rejected their slipshod argumentation and idiosyncratic interpretation."
While Shimp sued both men, the name of one of them appears more frequently in the suit. Groves filed an appeal of the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation’s finding as well as four follow-up letters urging the state agency to discipline Shimp.
"The less traction their letters found, the more Groves wrote," the complaint reads. "Groves abused his platform as a UVa professor by repeatedly threatening to disparage Mr. Shimp to his students, many of whom will become Mr. Shimp’s colleagues."
Shimp expressed particular disdain that Groves filed his appeal and supplemental letters on UVa letterhead.
"The UVa School of Engineering never approved these submissions by Groves," according to the complaint. "Groves violated the UVa School of Engineering’s policy in submitting his complaints on the school’s letterhead, which gave the false impression that his statements carried the weight of the UVa School of Engineering."
While The Daily Progress’ email and telephone messages to Groves went unreturned, Perritt did answer and said he plans to fight back.
"I didn’t do the vast majority of the things alleged there," Perritt told The Daily Progress. "I represented our neighborhood, and I did not do or say anything that was defamatory in that context."
Perritt said all of his filings were made in accordance with proper local, state and federal procedures and merely stated the neighborhood’s position within the law.
"That’s not defamatory," said Perritt. "I was doing my job as a lawyer."
"I think they’re confused about the things Groves did and I did," he continued. "It’s a meritless lawsuit against me anyway."
Perritt was asked if there’s any merit to the claims about his fellow defendant.
"I don’t have any comment on that," he said.
Source: www.dailyprogress.com