Eleventh Judicial Circuit Court Judge Joseph Perkins denied the motion to dismiss by Actualidad Media Group, a radio station that accused Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago against of being involved in an ethics investigation.
Judge Joseph Perkins, in his ruling, said [A] motion to dismiss filed pursuant to the Anti-SLAPP statute is governed by the same standards as an ordinary motion to dismiss under the Florida Rules of Civil Procedure.
“That is, upon a motion to dismiss a complaint for failure to state a cause of action, all material allegations of the complaint are taken as true. “Those allegations are then reviewed in light of the applicable substantive law to determine the existence of a cause of action," said Judge Perkins.
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.
In Lago’s case, the radio station apparently said that Lago was under “ethics investigation” when he wasn’t. At the time, Lago was only under “preliminary review” a distinction that the then Commission on Ethics Director, Jose Arrojo, told the Miami Herald, was “important, because the lesser designation is designed to prevent the unfair smear effect that the label ‘under investigation’ could have on a public official.”
Coral Gables is having municipal elections this April 8
