“Developer [Hudson Holdings] files, drops libel suit against Coastal Star”, by reporter Noreen Marcus at The Coastal Star.

Use this link to read the entire article datelined September 29th; here are several excerpts:

A developer sued The Coastal Star alleging libel and then abruptly dropped the lawsuit a month later.
    The suit filed Aug. 30 in Palm Beach Circuit Court by Hudson Holdings and its principal Steven Michael claimed the newspaper defamed both of them through a false connection to criminal activity. Editor Mary Kate Leming and reporter Jane Smith were named as individual defendants.
     The suit seeking $40 million in actual damages and $20 million in punitive damages was assigned to Judge David French.

and. . .

     On Sept. 28 Michael’s lawyer Scott Weires filed a two-paragraph “notice of voluntary dismissal” that doesn’t give a reason for dropping the lawsuit.

another excerpt. . .

     Robert Rivas, attorney for The Coastal Star, denied that his client published false information. He had planned to file a complaint that Michael’s lawsuit violated Florida’s anti-SLAPP law. An illegal “strategic lawsuit against public participation” — or SLAPP suit — is one that aims to silence critics engaged in a democratic process.
     “Hudson Holdings is trying to intimidate and frighten the opposition,” said Rivas, of Sachs Sax Caplan in Tallahassee, before the suit was withdrawn. “The Coastal Star story was accurate and did not link Hudson Holdings to any criminal activity.”
     The crux of the dispute was an Aug. 2 Coastal Star story about Michael’s proposed Midtown project [in Delray Beach]. In addition to reporting on the project’s status, the story included background on Midtown and another Michael project, the Gulfstream Hotel in Lake Worth. [emphasis added]

last excerpt. . .

     Under the sub-headline “Midtown ensnared in sober home action,” the story states that “Midtown became entangled with the Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office’s Sober Homes Task Force” last fall. It says that brothers Bryan and Patrick Norquist “were arrested on patient-brokering charges” and states that two addresses were listed on the arrest document — “20 S. Swinton Ave., the headquarters for Hudson Holdings, and 48 SE First Ave.”