Nashville, Tenn.–based Genesis Diamonds has dropped its lawsuit against competitor Village Jewelers for alleged defamatory statements.
According to the suit, three-store chain Genesis—which in May was the subject of a two-part local TV exposé on which Village Jewelers owner George Khoury appeared—sent two customers to its rival and taped an employee hurling a variety of charges at the store and its owner, declaring it practices “fraud” and “bait and switch.” Those statements were damaging and false, Genesis said in the suit, which was filed June 16 in Chancery Court for Davidson County, Tenn., and charged defamation and violations of Lanham Act.
Bill Bryan, Genesis Diamonds attorney, tells JCK: “The suit was filed to stop damaging and false statements about our client, and we had multiple discussions with lawyers representing Village Jewelers and Mr. Khourry. It was our understanding from those discussions that Mr. Khourry had no intent to defame our client. As a result of the statement of Khourry’s intent to refrain from future defamatory comments, we dropped the suit.”
On the other hand, Village Jewelers lawyer Brian Manookian says he is not surprised by the outcome: “Genesis Diamonds’ self-dismissal confirms what we already knew: that this was a garbage lawsuit with zero legal merit designed to silence those who speak out about Genesis’ business practices.”
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