<\/p>\n
Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo leaves federal court in downtown Miami, on March 1, 2024.<\/p>\n
Alexia Fodere<\/p>\n
for The Miami Herald<\/p>\n
The city of Miami appears close to reaching a settlement in the final remaining lawsuit stemming from accusations that former Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo weaponized city resources against two Little Havana businessmen. But the recent disqualification of several witnesses \u2014 including the former police chief and deputy city manager \u2014 could threaten to derail an agreement.<\/p>\n
The allegations in the lawsuit<\/a>, filed by Bill Fuller and Martin Pinilla in November 2023, closely parallel the case that the two men won against Carollo in June 2023, when jurors awarded Fuller and Pinilla $63.5 million<\/a>. Fuller and Pinilla alleged that Carollo mobilized a \u201cgovernment machine\u201d against them and a slew of their businesses that caused a loss of over $60 million and that he did so in retaliation for them supporting Carollo\u2019s opponent in the 2017 election.<\/p>\n In a Friday filing in federal court, Jeffrey Gutchess, an attorney for the plaintiffs, wrote that a settlement agreement was \u201cimminent\u201d following a Feb. 26 closed-door meeting, known as a \u201cshade\u201d meeting, that took place at City Hall between commissioners and the city\u2019s attorneys. Unlike mediation, the city\u2019s shade meetings do not involve the opposing side.<\/p>\n The proposed settlement amount is in the $12 million to $20 million range, according to a source. That\u2019s on par with the $12.5 million settlement<\/a> that the City Commission approved in 2024 in a related lawsuit.<\/p>\n The city of Miami, however, pushed back on Gutchess\u2019 claims. In a Feb. 27 filing, attorneys for the city wrote that \u201ca settlement is not imminent\u201d and that Gutchess\u2019 claims about a settlement raise \u201cserious concerns pertaining to the disclosure of privileged conversations between City officials and the City\u2019s lawyers which occurred during the confidential shade meeting.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHow plaintiffs could have obtained any information from the February 26, 2026 shade meeting casts additional ethical concerns regarding communications with a represented party,\u201d the city\u2019s lawyers wrote.<\/p>\n In a Sunday filing, Gutchess doubled down. He wrote that on Feb. 25 \u2014 the day before the shade meeting \u2014 a \u201csolid majority of commissioners supported an instruction to the City\u2019s counsel to settle this case broadly on terms that were acceptable to Plaintiffs.\u201d Gutchess did not elaborate on why he believes that, nor did he say which commissioners supported the settlement.<\/p>\n \u201cEither there is an obvious \u2018disconnect\u2019 between the City of Miami, the party in this action, and its counsel, or counsel for the City of Miami has not been \u2018candid\u2019 with this Court,\u201d Gutchess wrote in the filing.<\/p>\n On Monday, attorney Jack Flagg, who also represents Fuller and Pinilla, requested that Judge Federico Moreno order two city commissioners to attend a mediation session \u201cto assist with finalizing a settlement in this case.\u201d The request entails making an exception to the state\u2019s Sunshine laws that prohibit elected officials from meeting privately to discuss legislative matters.<\/p>\n Reached for comment Monday, Gutchess declined to say why the plaintiffs want two city commissioners present for mediation, nor did he say if there are two commissioners in particular that his team hoped would attend. Carollo, who was termed out at the end of last year, has since been replaced as the District 3 commissioner by political newcomer Rolando Escalona, a Carollo critic<\/a> whose election night watch party<\/a> took place at the Tower Hotel, which is owned by Fuller and Pinilla.<\/p>\n \u201cThere should be imminent settlement discussions in this case for the City to avoid a judgment in excess of 100 million dollars,\u201d Gutchess said in an email to the Miami Herald. \u201cWe are not at liberty to discuss the range of any settlement or whether there will be any further mediation, or if so, who would attend.\u201d<\/p>\n Former police chief, deputy city manager barred from testifying<\/p>\n The situation was further complicated Monday when several witnesses did not show up to federal court to give depositions. Those witnesses included former Miami Police Chief Art Acevedo, former Deputy City Manager Joe Napoli and former Assistant Building Director Jose Regalado.<\/p>\n The three were among six witnesses that Moreno had said should be deposed at the Wilkie D. Ferguson Jr. federal courthouse on Monday.<\/p>\n \u201cIf a witness fails to appear, the Plaintiffs will have elected not to use that witness,\u201d Moreno wrote in a February order.<\/p>\n Gutchess seemingly tried to get ahead of the matter when he filed a motion Friday asking the court to defer the depositions, writing that his team had learned that the city had not served deposition subpoenas to at least two witnesses, including Acevedo, \u201cnor even asked the counsel for these witnesses if they would accept service of subpoenas.\u201d<\/p>\n The other witnesses who were supposed to testify Monday were Andy Perez, a building inspector for the city; Ricardo Franqui, a member of the code compliance department; and Maurice Pons, a senior building official, according to court filings.<\/p>\n None of the six showed up. Moreno ordered Monday that \u201csince Plaintiffs did not produce the witnesses or announce why none of the witnesses could come to court,\u201d those witnesses \u201care not permitted to testify at trial.\u201d<\/p>\n Reached by phone, Regalado and Napoli both said they had not been informed about the scheduled depositions and that they learned about them when contacted by the Herald on Monday afternoon.<\/p>\n The City Attorney\u2019s Office did not respond to questions on the matter, nor did it say whether it was the city\u2019s responsibility to subpoena the witnesses for Monday\u2019s depositions.<\/p>\n Gutchess asked the judge for an extra week \u201cto provide the parties sufficient time to coordinate to either finalize an imminent settlement or properly ensure the attendance of nonparty witnesses outside of Plaintiffs\u2019 control … in light of an expected settlement.\u201d<\/p>\n The city responded that Gutchess\u2019 request was \u201cwoefully untimely,\u201d denied that a settlement was \u201cimminent\u201d and said it has \u201cexpended significant time and resources preparing for the Court-ordered depositions.\u201d<\/p>\n Moreno sided with the city Monday, ruling that the six witnesses cannot testify at trial because the city \u201cwould be prejudiced by being precluded from deposing the witnesses.\u201d<\/p>\n That ruling could deal a blow to Fuller and Pinilla\u2019s side, either by eliminating important witnesses if the case were to go to trial or by handing the city additional leverage in settlement discussions.<\/p>\n The witnesses Napoli was the deputy to then-City Manager Emilio Gonz\u00e1lez, a Carollo critic who recently ran for mayor and lost in a December runoff. In a December filing regarding the plaintiffs\u2019 witnesses, Gutchess wrote that Napoli would testify that he left his job at the city \u201cbecause of the \u2018toxic environment\u2019 created by Carollo, including the targeting of Plaintiffs.\u201d<\/p>\n Regalado is the brother of Miami-Dade County Commissioner Raquel Regalado and the son of Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser and former Miami mayor Tom\u00e1s Regalado. The Regalado family has long had bad blood with Carollo. Jose Regalado left his job with the city last year when he ran for the open District 4 seat, losing in a June special election<\/a> to Ralph Rosado, whose campaign was bankrolled by Carollo<\/a> and former Mayor Francis Suarez. Rosado and Carollo have since had a falling out<\/a>.<\/p>\n Acevedo was ousted as police chief in 2021. In a sworn declaration signed last month, Acevedo said he \u201cpersonally witnessed\u201d the city, including former City Manager Art Noriega and former City Attorney Victoria M\u00e9ndez, \u201cexecute a well-known and, in my view, notorious unconstitutional custom and policy of political retaliation on behalf of Commissioner Joe Carollo against Mr. Bill Fuller.\u201d<\/p>\n Acevedo also wrote that he witnessed Noriega and the assistant police chief \u2014 now current Miami Police Chief Manuel Morales \u2014 \u201cpersonally supervising the targeting operation against Mr. Fuller, which involved numerous police officers and code enforcement officers who were knowingly carrying out political retribution against him.\u201d<\/p>\n Acevedo has been embroiled in his own legal battle against the city. In 2022, he filed a lawsuit against the city, Carollo, former City Manager Art Noriega, former City Commissioner Alex D\u00edaz de la Portilla and the late City Commissioner Manolo Reyes, alleging that the parties violated his First Amendment rights and illegally retaliated against him for \u201cspeaking out against corruption and abuse of power by the City of Miami Commission.\u201d<\/p>\n Attorney Jeff Gutchess talks to reporters outside federal court downtown Miami on March 1, 2024. Alexia Fodere for The Miami Herald <\/p>\n
Former Miami Deputy City Manager Joseph Napoli <\/p>\n
Former Miami Police Chief Art Acevedo Pedro Portal pportal@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n