The Miami City Commission on Thursday agreed to pay $12.5 million to settle a lawsuit accusing the city of carrying out a “vendetta” against a group of Little Havana businesses, marking a partial resolution in a years-long legal entanglement between local nightclub owners and Commissioner Joe Carollo.
The lawsuit was filed three years ago in federal court by The Mad Room LLC, the company that owns the Ball & Chain nightclub, as well as Taquerias El Mexicano. It accused the city of harassing the businesses by carrying out code enforcement raids and “weaponizing” various departments in the city “to concoct a set of violations targeted at” businesses specifically owned by Ball & Chain’s Bill Fuller, who supported Carollo’s opponent in the city’s 2017 election. No other businesses on Calle Ocho were targeted by the alleged scheme, according to the complaint.
“The City’s vendetta against Plaintiffs runs from top to bottom — its elected officials, lawyers, professional staff, and every single department within its administrative function,” the complaint alleged…