Former Chester supervisor sues rivals over defamation claims in Orange County

Robert Valentine has taken his feud with Chester’s current leadership to Orange County Supreme Court, filing a defamation lawsuit that says his former political rivals spread false accusations to damage both his reputation and his business.

The suit, filed March 12 in New York Supreme Court in Orange County, names Valentine and his companies, Valcon America Corp. and Valentine Home Builders, as plaintiffs. The defendants listed in the reporting are Town of Chester Supervisor Brandon Holdridge, Councilmen Bob Courtenay and Thomas Becker, and Larry Dysinger, who died in December after a battle with cancer.

Valentine’s complaint accuses the defendants of libel, slander, tortious interference with contract, tortious interference with economic advantage and civil harassment. It says the men publicly portrayed Valentine and his company as corrupt and engaged in criminal conduct, including allegations that signs were posted outside Valcon and at job sites calling him corrupt. The filing says those statements caused economic injury, mental anguish, humiliation, shame and damage to reputation, and that Valentine lost business, profits and contracts because of them.

The lawsuit reaches back to the bitter 2023 Chester supervisor race and the political fight that followed. In October 2023, Holdridge and Courtenay publicly asked Orange County District Attorney David Hoovler to investigate Valentine over alleged self-dealing tied to his family’s trucking and excavation work, including work connected to the Greens at Chester project. Valentine denied the allegations and called them a political stunt.

That conflict helped shape the November 7, 2023 election, when Holdridge defeated Valentine, 1,586 votes to 962. The complaint now revives the same accusations in court, framing them as not just campaign rhetoric but statements that harmed a local contractor with deep ties to Chester’s economy.

Hoovler’s office later said, on Aug. 22, 2024, that a review of public records found no overt signs of criminal activity. Hoovler also said the matter was better suited to the town ethics board than to his office. Valentine said that review vindicated him, while Holdridge dismissed it as a sham and said he would keep pushing the complaint.

Valcon America describes itself as a family-owned excavating contractor based in Orange County and says it has been in business for more than 20 years. The company has said it was incorporated in July 2005. Chester’s current town board webpage lists Holdridge, Courtenay, Thomas Becker, Stephen Diffley and Giusepe Cassara, underscoring how central the same names remain in town politics as the legal fight now moves forward.