Billionaire developer and Miami Heat minority owner Raanan Katz lost an injunction he had obtained against a former retail tenant he is suing for defamation.
The Third District Court of Appeal reversed the injunction Wednesday, the Daily Business Review reported. Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Ellen Leesfield had awarded the injunction to Katz, who has embroiled in eight South Florida legal proceedings against Irini Chevaldina , the former tenant who has bashed the developer in recent years on her blog. Third District Judge Vance Salter described Chevaldina and her husband as “very unhappy former tenants of RK Associates” in Wednesday’s opinion.
The litigation started five years ago, when the Chevaldina’s sued Katz, his son Daniel and two Katz companies for breach of lease and defamation. Those cases were dismissed in 2010. After discovering the blog in 2011, Katz filed the defamation and libel suit, later adding counts of tortious interference, invasion of privacy and trespass. [Daily Business Review] — Eric Kalis