Miami developer sues over Internet blog

MIAMI, Jan. 29 (UPI) -- A Miami developer filed a $25 million lawsuit against a blogger who posted questionable statements about the developer's finances, it was reported Tuesday.

Developer Tibor Hollo filed the suit against real estate agent Lucus Lechuga and the brokerage firm Esslinger-Wooten-Maxwell (WWM), claiming they conducted a smear campaign, the Miami Herald reported.

In a one posting, Lechuga allegedly claimed that the developer, "went bankrupt in the 1980's."

Hollo had financial difficulties in the early 1990s, the newspaper reported. But, "I didn't lose anybody else's money. That's all I can tell you about it," Hollo said.

In the blog posted Jan. 10, Lechuga allegedly commented on Hollo's 635-unit Opera Tower project, writing that he thought the project was, "doomed."

"It's a collection of my unbiased opinions and thoughts," Lechuga said.

Nova Southeastern University professor of constitutional law and ethics Robert Jarvis said that courts see blogs as, "written in unedited, unvetted fashion," and doubted Hollo would win the case.

But, Lechuga has already paid a price. EWM fired him Monday for posting negative statements on the Internet.