Having studied libel and slander in my journalism ethics class in college I know there are certain things I can and will get sued for if I ever decide to blog about. Unfortunately, the blogger at Miami Condo Investments, Lucas Lechuga wasn't as careful and was slapped with $25 million defamation lawsuit after he wrote about developer Tibor Hollo. Apparently Lechuga wrote that Hollo filed for bankruptcy in the 1980s and warned investors that his Opera Tower project could meet a similar fate. Turned out that Hollo never filled for bankruptcy and he is none to pleased that Lechuga is telling investors to steer clear of his development.
Of course the smart guy that Hollo is he is not only suing Lechuga but the brokerage company EWM he was a contracted agent for. He alleges Lechuga is doing a smear campaign against him. Come on Hollo, isn't that a little far fetched? So he erroneously wrote about your past finances, that's understandably upsetting, but that definitely isn't worth $25 million. All Lechuga wanted to do was to give sound advice to investors during what I personally consider bad times. It's refreshing to see that there is at least one honest real estate agent out there not looking to make a big commission but instead to insure his clients make the right decision.
I personally hope all goes well for Lechuga, and I support him 100 percent in the work he does through his blog, even if EWM thinks its best to keep things "positive" (read: don't make the crashed market sound so bad).
[via Critical Miami]
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