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Friday, March 29, 2024 | Back issues
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‘Mexico’s Madonna’ Gloria Trevino Wins Round

(CN) - A singer known as "Mexico's Madonna" can continue her defamation lawsuit against a television network for its coverage of her alleged involvement in a sex scandal, the Texas Supreme Court ruled.

Gloria de Los Angeles Trevino Ruiz, using the stage name Gloria Trevi, gained musical fame in Mexico in the late 1990s.

However, her career was derailed when she was accusing of luring underage girls into sexual encounters with her manager.

Trevino and her manager were arrested in Brazil, and she spent five years behind bars in Brazil and Mexico.

After a Mexican judge dismissed all charges against Trevino in 2004, she moved to Texas and married her defense attorney.

However, interest in the scandal popped up again when its 10th anniversary approached in 2009.

Trevino and her son, Gomez, sued TV Azteca, Publimax and news anchor Patricia Chapoy for defamation, business disparagement, tortious interference and civil conspiracy.

Chapoy discussed the scandal on a TV show called Ventaneando, which was produced by TV Azteca and aired by Publimax's stations in Monterrey, Mexico.

Trevino accused the defendants of defaming her "concerning the very charges of which she had been acquitted."

Also, the singer claimed that the defendants called her "the lover of a mafia chief," stated that she "had been diagnosed with dangerous schizophrenia," and made defamatory statements concerning the way (Gomez) was conceived."

Trevino also stated that the defendants alleged that she had a baby daughter who "was murdered, and that the body had been dismembered."

The Mexican defendants challenged the Texas court's jurisdiction over them, but the court denied the challenge.

The 13th District Texas Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court's decision and on Feb. 26 the Texas Supreme Court also agreed that Trevino could pursue her case.

Justice Jeffrey Boyd was actually not convinced by Trevino's argument that the defendant harmed her and her son as Texas residents viewing the Mexican broadcasts in Texas.

"However, that evidence, taken together with evidence that (the broadcasters) exploited the Texas market to capitalize on the broadcasts that traveled into Texas, does establish purposeful availment and provides a constitutional basis for exercising jurisdiction over (them) in this case," he wrote.

Boyd noted that Trevino proved that the TV show did not merely spill over into Texas TV airwaves.

"Trevino points to evidence, for example, that Publimax stated on its website that the two Monterrey television stations reached 766,087 viewers in South Texas in 2008 and 1,583,829 in 2012," he wrote.

In addition, Boyd stated that Trevino showed that the defendants had "continuously and deliberately exploited the Texas market."

"Between 2005 and 2009, for example, when (defendants) were producing and airing the allegedly defamatory stories about Trevino, TV Azteca had a business office and production studio in South Texas.

Boyd also noted that Chapoy promoted her books about the Ventaneando program in Texas and also hosted a live broadcast of the show in Dallas.

"While this evidence might not be sufficient on its own, we agree that it is relevant and supports Trevino's allegation that Petitioners purposefully availed themselves of the benefits of conducting activities in Texas," he wrote.

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