Hollo v. Lechuga [1]

In January 2008, Florida property developer Tibor Hollo and his company Opera Tower, LLC, sued Lucas Lechuga, a 29-year-old Miami realtor, and Lechuga's former employer, EWM Realtors, for defamation.

According to the complaint, Lechuga published statements on his blog, "Miami Condo Investments Blog [2]," indicating that Hollo went bankrupt in the 1980s , asserting that Hollo's company was delaying closings on its condominium project, and predicting that the project was going to have a "high default rate."

The complaint alleges that EWM Realtors is liable for Lechuga's defamatory statements because he was acting as EWM's agent while writing his blog. To support this, Hollo claims that there were "extensive links" from Lechuga's blog to the EWM website, and that Lechuga identified himself as an EWM real estate agent. According to the Miami Herald [3], EWM has fired Lechuga and distanced itself from his comments.

Hollo and Opera Tower seek a total of $25 million in damages.

UPDATE: On 01/06/2009 the court granted an order of dismissal for both defendants.