Carollo Abuse-of-Power Trial Moves Forward in Wake of Jury-Tampering Claim

The trial in an abuse-of-power lawsuit against Joe Carollo is trucking along despite his claim that a partner of the plaintiffs tried to tamper with a juror.

The case was brought by Bill Fuller and Martin Pinilla, who say Carollo abused his power as Miami city commissioner by vengefully directing municipal employees to target the duo's businesses over a personal vendetta.

Carollo asked for a mistrial this week, claiming one of Fuller's business partners, Zack Bush, tried to convince a juror to do online research about Carollo during the trial. Carollo's motion claims that after court proceedings concluded on April 20, Bush followed the juror into a parking garage elevator and, upon exiting, urged the juror to go on the internet and social media to "see what this defendant is capable of," which would have violated the court's directive to jurors to steer clear of online coverage.

Bush co-owns Mad Room Hospitality and Ball & Chain with Fuller, according to his professional profile. He is not a party to the case against Carollo.

The juror denied engaging with Bush, according to Carollo's pleading. Presiding district court judge Rodney Smith allowed the case to move forward but told jurors to disregard the incident and abide by court rules about independently researching the case, according to a Local 10 report.

Bush has not responded to New Times' request for comment.

Carollo's trial in the Southern District of Florida kicked off April 10 and has since featured heated testimony from ex-city manager Emilio Gonzalez and former Miami Police Chief Art Acevedo, among a laundry list of municipal higher-ups. Gonzalez and Acevedo attested to incidents where they said the city singled out Fuller and Pinilla's Little Havana restaurants for code violations.

Fuller and Pinilla filed the case in 2018, accusing the commissioner of mounting a campaign of targeted harassment, siccing code enforcement and city employees on Ball & Chain (a lounge with a storied history in Little Havana), Union Beer Store (a craft beer bar), and Sanguich de Miami (an eatery that serves Cuban sandwiches). Fuller says Carollo had a vendetta against him in part because Fuller supported Carollo's political opponent in a 2017 run-off election.

The lawsuit accuses Carollo of stalking the parking lot of Ball & Chain and proclaiming, "I am the law!" to an employee. Fuller and Pinilla say Carollo's actions violated their First Amendment rights and cost them millions of dollars in profits.

The commissioner's attorneys have pointed to what they claim were legitimate code violations at the duo's businesses. One of Carollo's attorneys, Benedict Kuehne, previously told New Times that the lawsuit was a baseless case "brought by local business owners who continue to refuse to comply with the laws applicable to all business owners in the City of Miami."

The case plodded through pleading stages in federal court for three years while Carollo's attorneys attempted to have the lawsuit dismissed, arguing that their client was protected by qualified and legislative immunity, legal principles that protect police and elected officials from being sued personally for actions on the job.

However, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit ruled against Carollo on key immunity issues in February 2022, clearing the way for a trial.