MIAMI – A federal judge didn’t mince words in denying Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo’s requests for a new trial and to reduce $63.5 million in damages against him after a civil jury found he used his position to violate the rights of two Little Havana businessmen last summer.
U.S. District Judge Rodney Smith, appointed to the federal bench by former President Donald Trump in 2019, issued the scathing order Wednesday.
Smith wrote that the verdict was supported by evidence in the case, brought by Ball & Chain owners Bill Fuller and Martin Pinilla, who successfully claimed that Carollo weaponized city resources in order to retaliate against the pair for supporting a political opponent.
The judge rejected claims made by Carollo’s attorneys that there were significant evidentiary and jury instruction errors that necessitate a new trial.
Smith also wrote that the $63.5 million judgement was not excessive, but appropriate.
“Defendant (Carollo) argues that the damages awarded are so grossly excessive that they shock the conscience. The Court disagrees,” Smith wrote. “The only shock to the conscience here is that Defendant used his position and power to weaponize the City government against Plaintiffs (Fuller and Pinilla) because Plaintiffs chose to exercise their First Amendment rights by supporting Defendant’s political opponent.”
In noting that the “degree of reprehensibility” determines the reasonableness of punitive damages awarded, Smith wrote that Carollo’s actions were “continuous and unrelenting” as well as “intentional and malicious,” noting that Carollo’s actions continued “long after” Fuller and Pinilla filed suit.
“Thus, the degree of reprehensibility is high,” the judge wrote.
Attorney Jeff Gutchess, representing Fuller and Pinilla, reacted to Wednesday’s ruling, saying Smith is “just calling balls and strikes.”
“The judge sat through the trial for seven weeks, he saw the parade of witnesses, high ranking city officials, former city managers, former police chiefs,” Gutchess said. “Throughout this case we’ve been dealing with a defendant (Carollo) who is not concerned about the law, or the court, or the jury, this defendant has been concerned about politics the whole time.”
Gutchess said he believes the judge’s decision to uphold the $63.5 million award is in line with other recent court decisions against prominent politicians.
“If you look at other recent cases against politicians, Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump, you know, you’re seeing even larger damage figures, because politicians have a unique ability to destroy people’s lives, right?” he said. “They have the bully pulpit, they have the ability to get these defamatory statements out there and really harm people’s lives and their businesses. And so, from that perspective, this damage award was not a lot of (money), it’s actually far less than those other ones.”
Carollo, for his part, has consistently lampooned the civil verdict, the plaintiffs and the legal process, and has maintained he’s done nothing wrong.
He’s facing the specter of a forced auction of his Coconut Grove home in order to pay a portion of the massive judgement. But the commissioner has insisted that he should be — and will be — able to keep his house.
Legal analyst David Weinstein, who isn’t involved in the case, said an appeal of Wednesday’s ruling is possible as part of a broader appeal.
“Although he lost his motion for a new trial, Commissioner Carollo can’t take a standalone appeal to the 11th Circuit (Court of Appeals),” Weinstein said. “He must appeal the entire case and if he loses, then he can attempt to take an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.”
Gutchess said he believes that while the commissioner may appeal the case, “he isn’t going to get any different result.”
“Today is a great day for me. The court’s ruling finally allows me to move forward with the appeal, after months of waiting. I am no longer being held as a political hostage by the court and finally can proceed with my appeal, that will bring justice for me and for the City of Miami,” Carollo said in a statement to Local 10 News.
“Both Judge Rodney Smith and the plaintiffs know extremely well that the injustices that were committed against me and the City of Miami during the trial will be overturned by the Court of Appeals.”
Read the ruling here: