Coral Gables mayors' defamation case renews correlation after ABC settles with Trump

CORAL GABLES, Fla. - The recent defamation settlement between ABC News and President-elect Donald Trump has brought back elements of a similar case filed by Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago against a local Spanish-language radio station in December 2023.

According to a report by the Miami Herald, Lago then accused Actualidad 1040 AM radio host Roberto Rodriguez Tejera and Coral Gables Commissioner Ariel Fernandez, a candidate at the time, of "falsely" claiming during an on-air segment in February 2023 that the mayor was the subject of a Miami-Dade Ethics Commission investigation for a potential conflict of interest.

The specific comments stemmed from Lago's alleged familial financial ties to a trailer park at the center of the city's fight to annex a nearby unincorporated area known as Little Gables.

However, at the time, Lago was under "preliminary review", which the commission does not consider to be an investigation. The review, originally posted in Political Cortadito, was looking into whether Lago made a false statement after signing an affidavit that neither he nor his immediate family had a business interest in annexing Little Gables.

Notably, Vince's brother, Carlos, was a registered lobbyist in 2015 with a company that owned a trailer park in Little Gables but did not work thereafter. He also withdrew his lobbyist registration for the company in March 2023.

Ultimately, the review eventually determined Lago did not make a false statement.

In the lawsuit's original details, Lago claimed the comments caused a "deterioration of Lago's personal and business reputation in the community, humiliation, embarrassment, and ridicule."

Actualidad's legal team countered by saying the mayor's lawsuit was an attempt to suppress free speech and freedom of the press.

Lago also sought $50,000 in damages at the time of the lawsuit, although he did not mention how he came to that figure.

"Freedom of the press is a cornerstone of our democratic society, providing citizens with access to information and fostering an informed public discourse is a very important bedrock principle of our country," Lago told the Miami Herald in January. "However, with this freedom comes the responsibility to exercise judiciously and ethically"

In August, a Miami-Dade Circuit Judge dismissed the lawsuit, asserting Lago's claims were"legally insufficient" for a public figure bringing a defamation case. However, Lago reportedly refiled his lawsuit this fall.

Lago was first elected Mayor of Coral Gables in 2021. His defamation lawsuit has been just one of many headlines during his tenure.

While the bar to win a defamation suit brought by an elected official can be quite high as shown in Lago's case, President-elect Donald Trump's victory over ABC News and anchor George Stephanopoulos could tighten the grip on what media outlets can say on air.

Over the weekend, ABC News agreed to pay $15 million toward Trump's presidential library after Stephanopoulos said on his "This Week" program in March that Trump had been found civilly liable for raping writer E. Jean Caroll.

Details of the settlement also included an editor's note from ABC News on the error.

Within the agreement, ABC News must now transfer $15 million for Trump's presidential library to the law firm account of his attorney, Alejandro Brito within 10 days. The network also agreed to pay $1 million in Brito's legal fees in the same period of time.

Editor's note: This story has been updated to include reports of Mayor Lago refiling his defamation lawsuit