Judge dismisses Díaz de la Portilla ‘shakedown’ lawsuit, citing legislative immunity
A judge on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit accusing former Miami City Commissioner Alex Díaz de la Portilla of orchestrating a “shakedown” scheme by pressuring the longtime operator of the Rickenbacker Marina to take on the commissioner’s associate as a business partner in exchange for the commissioner’s vote on a redevelopment deal.
The ruling marks the second legal victory for Díaz de la Portilla in the past two months as he tees up a possible run for Miami mayor. In November, the Broward State Attorney’s Office dismissed a criminal corruption case against Díaz de la Portilla, clearing him of the charges just weeks before the case was set to go to trial.
The lawsuit dismissed Thursday, involving different allegations, was filed by lobbyist Manuel Prieguez.
In his September 2023 complaint, Prieguez alleged that Díaz de la Portilla and two of his associates pressured Prieguez’s client, Rickenbacker Marina operator Aabad Melwani, to take on one of those associates as a business partner in order to secure the commissioner’s vote during an intense battle in 2020 over who would redesign and run the aging city-owned marina — an arrangement Prieguez called “a quid pro quo bribe.”
READ MORE: Miami commissioner sued for alleged “shakedown” of Rickenbacker Marina’s operator
Prieguez accused Díaz de la Portilla of working through surrogates, including former city commissioner and convicted felon Humberto “Bert” Hernandez and real estate agent and attorney Anibal Duarte-Viera, in an attempt to “shake down” Melwani, “an upstanding member of the community.” (Melwani was not involved in the lawsuit.)
Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Mavel Ruiz first dismissed Prieguez’s allegations against Díaz de la Portilla in June but allowed him to refile an amended complaint. Then, on Thursday, Ruiz dismissed the case with prejudice, meaning Prieguez cannot refile.
Prieguez told the Miami Herald on Friday that he was “considering all of my options,” including filing an appeal.
Díaz de la Portilla celebrated the ruling, saying that “once again, the Justice System has exonerated me from the baseless lawsuit filed against me for political purposes.”
“I will soon be back,” the former commissioner added.
On Friday, Díaz de la Portilla’s lawyers asked the judge to sanction Prieguez for filing an amended complaint that “suffers from the same defects already identified” by the court — namely, that the alleged actions by Díaz de la Portilla were covered by legislative immunity. Díaz de la Portilla is asking to be compensated for his attorneys’ fees and costs.
Legislative immunity
In the Jan. 16 ruling, Ruiz leaned heavily on “legislative immunity” as grounds for dismissing the case. The principle applies when “the conduct undertaken is done within a commissioner’s legislative function,” Ruiz wrote.
Citing case law, Ruiz said “the immunity applies regardless of whether an activity was ‘unethical or motivated by bad faith.’”
“Based on legislative immunity, courts have dismissed claims even where the defendant has admitted taking bribes where legislative activity formed a critical element — the causal element — of the plaintiff’s claim,’” Ruiz added.
Melwani, who had hired Prieguez as a lobbyist, was one of two bidding teams hoping to redevelop the city-owned Rickenbacker Marina. Melwani’s family has operated the marina for more than 40 years. Prieguez alleged that Melwani “could not prevail” without Díaz de la Portilla’s vote on the five-member City Commission.
Prieguez alleged that the defendants “used this information to attempt to threaten Prieguez to participate in their criminal scheme. When Prieguez would not be corrupted, they then set out to harm Prieguez.”
Prieguez further alleged that Duarte-Viera, a friend of Díaz de la Portilla, at one point told him: “The ONLY way to get the votes is to have me be a partner in this deal. Period, end of story,” according to the lawsuit.
On the day that the City Commission was slated to discuss the proposed marina redevelopment in October 2020, Díaz de la Portilla allegedly texted Melwani to go to the East Miami hotel during the commission’s lunch break.
Díaz de la Portilla “specifically asked Melwani to go alone,” according to the complaint, and Melwani agreed, feeling like he had no other choice. When he arrived, Melwani was met in the hotel lobby not by the commissioner but by three of Díaz de la Portilla’s associates, including Hernandez and Duarte-Viera, according to the lawsuit.
The parties “exchanged pleasantries and then went on to discuss the marina issue and what the possibilities were moving forward,” the complaint alleged, but Melwani rejected the overtures.
Díaz de la Portilla ultimately voted for the competitor’s proposal “knowing that it would result in a tie, and he could then steer the City Commission towards deferring the item and ultimately throwing out all bids as Duarte-Viera had threatened,” the lawsuit alleged.
But those allegations did not pass legal muster for a lawsuit to proceed against Díaz de la Portilla, Ruiz ruled, noting that “legislative immunity is very broad.”
“Portilla has legislative immunity as to his acts of voting, texting, and meeting about the Rickenbacker bid, and so the Plaintiff cannot satisfy these elements,” Ruiz wrote.
Prieguez and Hernandez reached a settlement agreement in September, according to the court record. As part of the agreement, the judge dismissed the claims against Hernandez. The details of the agreement were not publicly available.
This story was originally published January 17, 2025 at 4:10 PM.
.jpg)