Judge dismisses Coral Gables mayor’s defamation lawsuit against Spanish radio station

A Miami-Dade Circuit Court judge has dismissed a lawsuit that Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago filed against a local Spanish-language radio station, alleging that his reputation was damaged by comments made on air about an ethics inquiry into the mayor’s purported familial financial ties to a trailer park at the center of an annexation battle.

On Friday, Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Joseph Perkins dismissed a lawsuit that Lago filed in December against Actualidad Media Group, finding that Lago’s claims were “legally insufficient” for a public figure bringing a defamation case.

An attorney for the radio station celebrated the dismissal in a statement Monday.

“Actualidad Media Group remains dedicated to keeping its listeners informed as to matters of public concern and will not be censored by threats or baseless claims,” said attorney Antonio Castro. “Mayor Vince Lago’s lawsuit is without merit, and we are confident of a favorable outcome in the litigation.”

Lago’s lawsuit alleges that Actualidad 1040 AM radio host Roberto Rodriguez Tejera and City Commissioner Ariel Fernandez, who was then a candidate, “falsely” claimed during an on-air segment in 2023 that Lago was the subject of a Miami-Dade Ethics Commission investigation involving a potential conflict of interest. At the time, Lago was under a “preliminary review,” which the agency does not consider to be an investigation.

T he Ethics Commission was probing whether Lago made a false statement when he signed a sworn affidavit in 2022 proclaiming that neither he nor any of his immediate family members had a business interest in annexing Little Gables, an unincorporated enclave on the city’s northern border. At the time, the mayor’s brother, Carlos Lago, was a registered lobbyist in Miami for a company that owns a trailer park in Little Gables.

A spokesperson for the law firm where Carlos Lago works previously told the Herald that the mayor’s brother only represented the company for one project back in 2015 in Miami and that his registration became “effectively inoperative” thereafter. He withdrew his lobbyist registration for the company on March 6, 2023 — days after the Actualidad segment aired on Feb. 27.

The ethics review concluded in October and determined that Lago “did not knowingly make a false statement” and that the preliminary fact-finding did not merit further scrutiny, effectively closing out the matter.

The mayor claimed the comments on Actualidad caused a “deterioration of Lago’s personal and business reputation in the community, humiliation, embarrassment and ridicule.”

A ‘brazen attempt to suppress free speech’

In a March filing, Actualidad’s legal team said Lago’s lawsuit was a “brazen attempt to suppress free speech and freedom of the press” and part of an effort to “bully, intimidate and harass” the radio station. They argued that public discussion about the ethics inquiry is “entirely proper in the public discourse, and must be defended.”

Earlier this year, Actualidad filed a motion to dismiss under Florida’s anti-SLAPP provision , which “prohibits lawsuits brought against individuals for exercising their right of free speech in connection with a public issue,” according to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press .

In order to successfully sue for defamation, a public figure must prove that a false statement was made with “actual malice,” which means the individual made the statement knowing it was false or had a “reckless disregard” of whether or not it was false, according to Friday’s order.

Lago had alleged that Rodriguez Tejera and Fernandez had no factual basis for their claims because ethics reviews are “confidential and exempt from disclosure” until a determination is made. But in his order, Perkins wrote that the confidentiality of such reviews “does not tend to establish that Defendant knew the statements were false or made them with reckless disregard of whether or not they were false.”

Mason Pertnoy, an attorney for Lago, said in a statement Monday that Rodriguez Tejera “orchestrated” the interview with Fernandez, “who was provided with false information in advance in order to publicly defame Mr. Lago.”

“As confirmed by the Miami Dade Commission on Ethics, Mr. Lago was never under investigation and any assertion to that effect is false,” Pertnoy said, adding: “Here, the facts are clear that the Defendant had no evidence or factual basis for the false defamatory statement, made no effort whatsoever to determine whether the false information was true or not.”

The Friday dismissal landed days before Coral Gables residents are set to vote in a straw ballot Tuesday on whether the city should absorb Little Gables. Lago has championed the annexation of Little Gables for years, but some residents, as well as the city’s police and fire unions, have fought against it , arguing that the city’s public safety resources are insufficient and cannot handle an increased population.

While Fernandez was not named as a defendant in the lawsuit, Lago’s legal team had subpoenaed communications between Fernandez, the heads of the city’s police and fire unions, and various members of the local media dating back to 2021.

“Suits like these by Mayor Lago are an attack on free speech and democracy and we are pleased that the Court dismissed the case and the attempt to depose Commissioner Ariel Fernandez and access his private communications with reporters and colleagues is over,” said David Winker, an attorney for Fernandez.

Lago has until next week to file an amended complaint.

“Mr. Lago looks forward to advancing this matter further,” Pertnoy said, “so that journalism motivated by malice and a reckless disregard for the truth is held accountable.”