Miami code inspector files libel lawsuit against Commissioner Díaz de la Portilla
A city of Miami code inspector is suing Commissioner Alex Díaz de la Portilla for defamation, a legal twist in a controversy over what happened when the city shut down an illegal late-night party where the commissioner was present after curfew.
In a lawsuit filed Wednesday, code inspector Suzann Nicholson accused Díaz de la Portilla of making libelous statements to the media “with the intent to silence or intimidate” her after she publicly said he had poked and pushed her when she encountered him at a pop-up establishment in his district on the night of Feb. 21. She’s seeking more than $100,000 in damages.
When Nicholson first went public with her allegations, Díaz de la Portilla countered that she was lying. He called for her to be fired after police body camera footage from the incident was released by the city and failed to show any physical confrontation.
David Winker, who was hired as co-counsel on the lawsuit, said that Nicholson looks forward to her day in court when everyone involved has to testify under oath.
“Ms. Nicholson’s case is troubling because she is being attacked by Commissioner Alex Díaz de la Portilla and others at the city for doing her job,” Winker said.
Benedict Kuehne, the commissioner’s attorney, said in a statement that Nicholson was “hiding behind her lawyer’s legalisms” and filing a “frivolous lawsuit that will be unsuccessful,” pointing to the body camera footage.
“Commissioner Díaz de la Portilla and his legal team welcome the opportunity to confront the plaintiff in a court of law, at which her deception will be unmasked as a contrivance to unjustly obtain money she does not deserve,” Kuehne said. “The legal system will hold her accountable for any wrongdoing on her part.”
The incident
Nicholson had encountered Díaz de la Portilla at a former pallet supplier converted to what looked like a partially open-air nightclub. She was working that night on a joint task force with police to enforce COVID-19 regulations.
Weeks later, she and her attorney told multiple outlets that the commissioner had poked her repeatedly during a confrontation, causing her to step back awkwardly and injure her hip.
The commissioner vehemently denied the accusations, and body camera footage from three police officers did not show him pushing her. The commissioner maintained that the videos, which showed him and Nicholson exchanging words multiple times but no visible physical confrontation, exonerated him, as well as a police incident report from that night does not mention any altercation.
Díaz de la Portilla also called for Nicholson’s firing.
“This video proves there’s not an ounce of truth to her story. A fraudulent workman’s compensation claim is not a reason to try to ruin someone’s good name,” the commissioner said when the videos were released by the city. “Ms. Nicholson should be terminated immediately for her misdeeds, defamation and fraud.”
After the videos were released, Kuehne sent a letter to the Herald and other media outlets requesting a retraction of their coverage of Nicholson’s accusations, citing the body camera footage and police report as proof that no altercation occurred. The Herald denied the request.
Still, the lawsuit restates Nicholson’s accusation that Díaz de la Portilla touched her, alleging that the commissioner poked Nicholson in the shoulder while talking to her and then, when Nicholson began “sensing” Díaz de la Portilla’s “growing anger,” she stepped backward, “slightly twisting her ankle and later resulting in pain within her hip, groin and leg area.”
In one of the body camera videos, the commissioner can be heard telling Nicholson: “You’re code enforcement, right? I’m the commissioner. So what you need to do is you need to leave so you can do your job, and I’ll talk to the city manager in the morning.” The commissioner later said he declined to speak to the code supervisor because city rules prevent elected officials from giving orders directly to city employees.
Nicholson’s suit also accuses her supervisor and other city administrators of either ignoring or covering up her complaints against Díaz de la Portilla following that night. She alleges that Assistant Director of Code Compliance Eric Nemons told her to destroy all photographic evidence of the commissioner’s presence because, the suit quotes him saying, “we’re supposed to keep our politicians safe.”
During a press conference Thursday, Nicholson addressed reporters for the first time in several weeks. She claimed there is missing footage from the videos, and she said Díaz de la Portilla didn’t “act like a public official” when he touched her.
“Now I find myself fighting for my job, being treated like an outcast, because I did what the commissioner’s district pays me to do,” she said, with tears welling in her eyes.
Hours later, the commissioner told reporters Nicholson is a “liar and defamer” who filed a “frivolous lawsuit.”
“She’s trying to line her pockets with money, $100,000 of city taxpayer dollars to benefit herself,” he said. “It’s a shame and she should be dismissed immediately.”
On Wednesday, City Manager Art Noriega told the Miami Herald the city’s police department is investigating Nicholson’s claims that Díaz de la Portilla poked her. But he said that Nicholson has not provided the city a statement and has not filed a city complaint on the claims made in her lawsuit.
“We have invited her to come in and give a statement through her counsel several times and she has declined,” Noriega said. “The allegations she has made in her current lawsuit and in the media have never been officially filed with the city through an official statement or complaint.”
The lawsuit states that Nicholson submitted herself to two consecutive polygraph tests that indicate she’s told the truth about the alleged incident. The tests were done by expert John J. Plamatier, and they indicate a more than 90% probability that Nicholson was being truthful about the accusations, according to the complaint.
Such lie detector tests are controversial and experts have questioned their reliability. Research from the American Psychological Association found that most psychologists agreed there is little evidence that polygraph tests can accurately detect lies. A comprehensive 2002 study from National Academy of Sciences cast doubt on the accuracy of polygraph tests.
Díaz de la Portilla recently told NBC 6 that the venue for the event at the Allapattah property had two of four required permits and he downplayed the fact that he was at the venue minutes after a countywide COVID-19 curfew. He has insisted that he was at the establishment because he visits “countless businesses that are investing in my community to create jobs and revitalize our economy during these difficult times.”
Read the full lawsuit below:
This story was originally published April 28, 2021 at 8:10 PM.
