Miami Herald - Developer Tibor Hollo has filed a $25 million defamation lawsuit against a Miami real estate agent who blogged that the octogenarian went bankrupt in the 1980s and is headed for a fall with the upheaval in the condo market.

Hollo last week sued agent Lucas Lechuga and the Coral Gables brokerage Esslinger-Wooten-Maxwell alleging they have engaged in a smear campaign against him and his Opera Tower condo development on Lechuga’s Miami Condo Investments blog.

On Monday, the postings cost Lechuga his job.

”We just don’t condone making statements, especially negative statements, about anyone, so we have terminated our relationship with our associate,” said EWM President Ron Shuffield. Its agents are independent contractors, not employees.

Lechuga, 29, predicted on the blog that at least half of the buyers in the 635-unit Opera Tower at 1750 Bayshore Drive would default and the units would be taken over the project’s lender.

”My opinion is that this development is doomed,” he wrote on Jan. 10.

That followed this Nov. 25 post: “This developer went bankrupt in the 1980’s and I think we’ll see a repeat performance within the next 6 months. What do I know, though? I’m no real estate oracle.”

An angry Hollo said neither he nor any of his companies ever filed for bankruptcy.

”I guess when you’re running a blog [you] think [you] can say anything about anybody, and that’s just not true,” Hollo said. He called the postings “plain, unadulterated lies.”

The suit was filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court. Hollo declined to say how he arrived at the $25 million damage claim.

Lechuga said he was exercising his constitutional rights in musing about Opera Tower.

”Like any other blog out there, it’s a collection of my unbiased opinions and thoughts,” he said. “I have buyers all over the world who go to my blog. They know I’m not going to sugarcoat the market.”

Lechuga removed the Nov. 25 post after learning of the lawsuit, but later reposted it without the reference to Hollo going ”bankrupt.” He said he would have removed it sooner had he known it was wrong. He said a few people who told him about it may not have meant Hollo literally filed for bankruptcy, rather that Hollo had financial troubles of some kind.

Hollo lost some properties to lenders in the early 1990s, The Miami Herald reported at the time.

”In those days, I lost lots of money of mine, tens of millions of dollars,” Hollo said. “I didn’t lose anybody else’s money. That’s all I can tell you about it.”

Hollo deemed Opera Tower a success, with the entire project sold out. Closings began this months, with about 40 units deeded to buyers so far, he said. Ten lawsuits have been filed in Miami federal court by buyers seeking to rescind their purchase contracts, however.

Robert Jarvis, a constitutional law and ethics professor at Nova Southeastern University, who isn’t involved in the case, said he doubts Lechuga will be held liable for defaming Hollo.

”Courts understand [blogs] are written in unedited, unvetted fashion,” Jarvis said. “There’s a lot of hyperbole. That’s why it’s so difficult to win defamation lawsuits.”

Plus, Jarvis said Lechuga could argue Hollo is a ”limited public figure” — making it harder for Hollo to claim he was defamed.

None of the legal arguments make any difference to EWM’s Shuffield.

”I viewed these statements to be more negative in tone than just providing information,” Shuffield said, adding the firm wouldn’t have hired Lechuga had it known about the blog.

Shuffield said he feels like he’s been caught in a dispute he has nothing to do with. Nevertheless, he said he expects there will be discussion with the company’s 800 associates about what they can post on their blogs.

”We want to encourage associates to be a positive source of information,” Shuffield said.