Telemundo office. Photo: Daniel J. Macy/Shutterstock.comTelemundo Hit With Federal Libel Suit for Linking Miami Strip Club Traffic Arrest With Drug Bust
When Miami resident Merwin Larreal was arrested over an outstanding traffic infraction during a drug raid at The Booby Trap in Miami, he claims Telemundo 51 damaged his reputation by linking him with a group charged with trafficking drugs.
June 25, 2019 at 04:14 PM
3 minute read
Spanish language media company Telemundo of Florida LLC is facing a federal lawsuit alleging libel over a news report by one of its stations about a strip club drug bust in April 2018.
Plaintiff Merwin Larreal worked at The Booby Trap in Miami and was arrested during the sting — for a traffic violation.
Police had been investigating possible drug trafficking at the club, but after questioning Larreal they found he had an outstanding arrest warrant for failing to appear at court over a traffic infraction.
Several dancers and club staff were arrested on drugs charges, according to the lawsuit, but Larreal claims a Telemundo 51 news story three days later wrongly linked him to the raid.
The complaint claims the station reported his name and photo without telling viewers that he'd been arrested on a different charge. It claims that missing detail has since held Larreal out to “scorn and public ridicule,” as he lost his job and ”is now thought by the community in which he works and resides to be a trafficker of narcotics.”
The case, originally filed April 18, moved into the Southern District of Florida after it was removed from Miami-Dade Circuit on Monday. Telemundo of Florida did not respond to the lawsuit before it transferred.
The complaint said the news report remained on the station's website for more than 11 months, and Larreal complained to Telemundo 51 in March but got no answer. The story has since been removed.
Station spokesperson Melissa Castro declined to comment and its attorneys Giselle M. Girones and Deanna K. Shullman of Shullman Fugate's Jacksonville and West Palm Beach offices, and Lynn D. Carrillo of NBCUniversal in Hialeah did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The standard for proving defamation by a media organization against a public figure is high, requiring evidence of “actual malice.” But for a private person in Florida it can come down to ”mere negligence,” according to the Florida Bar.
Larreal seeks damages under defamation per se, which argues that the alleged false statement was so detrimental to the plaintiff that its mere existence warrants damages.
Augusto Ramon Lopez and Gustavo Daniel Lage of SMGQ Law in Coral Gables represent the plaintiff but did not respond by deadline.
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