Miami Blogger Lucas Lechuga Smacked with $25 Million Lawsuit

Real estate blogger Lucas Lechuga has been smacked with a $25 Million lawsuit for writing on his blog that he was not a fan of Opera Tower, a development by Tibor Hollo. He also (erroneously, it turns out) wrote that Hollo had gone bankrupt in the past and would probably do so again.

Lechuga has been fired from Esslinger Wooten Maxwell (EMW), the brokerage where he worked as an independent contractor. EMW has also been named in the lawsuit.

Lechuga has since removed the reference to Hollo's bankruptcy-- the modified post can be seen here, and the original post can be seen (for now, at least) here. The lawsuit seems to be generating much more negative publicity for Opera Tower than the post ever did, and we can't help wondering whether Hollo wouldn't have been better served by a polite email to Lechuga asking him to correct the post.

You can read more about the story in the Miami Herald, Lechuga's Blog (Opera Tower Closings to Begin in September, Closings to Begin at Opera Tower Very Soon, Opera Tower, LLC & Tibor Hollo Sues Me for $25M, Food for Thought) or watch a CBS clip about the story here. A copy of the lawsuit is here (pdf).