Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo loses appeal on $63.5 million jury award

Looks like Little Havana’s favorite strongman in a suit, Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo, just took another legal chancletazo — this time from the U.S. Court of Appeals, which politely (but firmly) told him, “Nananina.”
In a ruling Thursday, the appellate court affirmed the district court’s decision to deny Carollo’s desperate motion for a mistrial on the federal jury award of $63.5 million to Bill Fuller and Martin Pinilla, the two businessmen behind Ball & Chain and Taquerias El Mexicano and owners of a bunch of other Little Havana properties. The jury found what everyone else in Miami already knew: that Carollo used and abused city resources to wage a personal and political vendetta against the pair just because they supported his opponent in the 2017 election.
Basically, Carollo weaponized city government like it was his own personal revenge machine. And now a federal court agrees.
Then, just por las moscas, tossed out the rest of his appeal for “lack of appellate jurisdiction.”
In other words: Don’t waste our time, bruh.
Read related: Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo to lose appeal on $63.5 million judgement
In a joint statement that came with the tone of “told ya so,” Fuller and Pinilla said they were “encouraged but not surprised” by the court’s rejection of Carollo’s “baseless appeal.” And they didn’t hold back:

“The court’s sharp questioning and the overwhelming evidence presented at trial reaffirm what we have maintained from day one: Carollo abused his public office to wage a relentless campaign of political retaliation against us simply because we supported his opponent.
“For years, he weaponized city resources to intimidate, harass, and try to destroy our businesses and reputations. A federal jury saw through that and awarded us a historic verdict. Now, the appellate court has all but confirmed that the ruling will stand.
“This isn’t just a legal victory—it’s a win for every resident and business owner who believes in fairness, democracy, and the First Amendment. We’re grateful to our families, legal team, and the community that stood by us through years of this abuse of power.
“We look forward to putting this chapter behind us and continuing our work to uplift Little Havana.”

Ladra can almost hear the champagne corks popping over at Ball & Chain, a live music staple with food and cocktails in the heart of Little Havana.
Carollo, as usual, did not pick up or return Ladra’s call. But he made his points on his radio show Monday morning on America Radio, calling the ruling unfair and saying to “no proof existed” that he did anything. ¡Pero, por supuesto!
His main argument was that there was jury tampering when one of Fuller’s business partners, Zack Bush, rode in the same elevator with a juror and said he was following her when she asked him what floor he was going to. He didn’t say he was following her like a menace. He just didn’t need to press any buttons because she already did.
The judge in the case was informed. He interviewed the juror, who told him she was not swayed. And the appeals court said that was enough. Carollo said in his radio show that the “simple fact that it happened,” should have been enough for a mistrial. “You have to assume it did affect the jury.”
Read related: Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo can keep his house for now, but no new trial
But, in the appeals court ruling, the three-judge panel made it clear that there was no there there.
“The contact between Bush and Juror 3 had no connection to the subject matter of the trial,” they wrote, and the entire 19-page ruling is posted below. “None of the jurors, including Juror 3, felt that the incident affected their ability to be fair and impartial in any way. And the district court emphasized that the jury should disregard the incident and remain fair and impartial to both sides.
“On these facts, the presumption of prejudice has been rebutted. The contact between Bush and Juror 3 was harmless. Carollo’s arguments to the contrary are meritless,” the judges wrote.
Well, Carollo’s middle name is meritless.
The commissioner whined on the radio about the trial being in Broward and the jury not being his peers. “Many of the people who went to live in Broward are there because they don’t want to live with us,” he said, adding that not one was Cuban and that two of them were transplants from California! And we all know what liberal lefties they are, Carollo said.
He was also upset that the court would not hear the other four arguments that his attorneys wanted to make. “They washed their hands of it,” he said.
Lucky them. Miami could be stuck with Carollo for another year if a judge doesn’t stop the cancellation of the November election (more on this week’s court hearing on that later).
But it’s not all over yet. Their attorney, Jeff Gutches, said that now comes the fun part: collection of that $63.5 mil. “We will now proceed to collect that judgment from both the commissioner and the insurers for the City who enabled the conduct,” he said in a statement.
That’s right: taxpayers have been footing the legal bills for Carollo’s indefensible acts. Last year, the commission agreed to pay $12.5 million to settle the lawsuit as a partial resolution.
And taxpayers may be on the hook again. There’s a second lawsuit from Fuller and Pinilla — a civil complaint, this time, for $2.4 million in damages.
U.S. Court of Appeals ruling against Joe Carollo by Political Cortadito on Scribd

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