Ball & Chain owners file $28M lawsuit against city of Miami over alleged harassment
The company that owns the Ball & Chain and Taquerias el Mexicano in Little Havana has sued the city of Miami for $27.9 million over alleged harassment and unfair treatment from municipal government officials.
The 66-page complaint, filed Thursday in U.S. federal court, outlines a long list of grievances that the bars’ owners have against city administrators and commissioners, from unnecessary code inspections to the passing of laws that target only certain businesses on Calle Ocho.
Mad Room LLC, the company that owns Ball & Chain and Taquerias el Mexicano, is named as the plaintiff in the complaint. Owners accuse the city of twisting its processes, changing expectations on the fly and relying on flimsy interpretations of the city code to harass the businesses and shut them down. Ball & Chain has remained closed since November 2020 after city administrators said they identified fire safety issues and the business was not complying with requirements under the Americans with Disabilities
Act. The bar’s ownership denies wrongdoing.
Thursday’s suit was filed days after the Miami Herald reported on a memo written by Police Chief Art Acevedo that accused commissioners Joe Carollo and Alex Díaz de la Portilla of influencing the police and code enforcement departments to go after certain businesses. The complaint cites Acevedo’s letter as more proof that commissioners have crossed the line that is supposed to separate politicians from professional administrators running the city’s daily operations.
Acevedo’s letter shook up city hall politics this week, which began with an odd, lengthy hearing on Monday at which Carollo scrutinized Acevedo’s record at previous departments, resurfaced past sexual harassment accusations and showed videos of the chief dancing at fundraisers in Austin, Texas — including a freeze frame of the chief’s crotch in tight pants.
The Mad Room’s lawsuit fires off a litany of complaints.
The business owners are accusing multiple city departments of wrongfully issuing code violations and the city commission
A company that owns Ball & Chain and Taquerias el Mexicano is accusing Miami’s city government of using police and code enforcement to harass their businesses.
ers, led by Carollo, of passing a law that targeted Ball & Chain by creating new noise restrictions. They say the city ordered multiple raid-style inspections of the businesses, sometimes during peak hours, even though in many cases violations were not found. The owners allege that bureaucrats intentionally withheld necessary permits and approvals for many months in order to hinder business.
The suit states that in August, Miami police shut down Taquerias el Mexicano, arrested the manager and charged him with a misdemeanor of operating a business without a license. The Miami-Dade state attorney later dropped the charge, and the city attorney’s office later admitted that there was no reason to keep the business closed, according to the suit.
The lawsuit is separate from another pending lawsuit filed against Carollo by Bill Fuller, one of the co-owners of Ball & Chain, and a business partner. That lawsuit focused on allegations that
Carollo violated Fuller’s free speech by siccing code enforcement on the nightclub as retaliation for Fuller’s support for one of Carollo’s political opponents. That suit has moved slowly through federal court since October 2018.
City Attorney Victoria Mendez provided the following response to Thursday’s lawsuit.
“This is yet another attempt on Mr. Fuller’s part to deflect his illegal management of properties and businesses onto the city,” she said. “We look forward to addressing his conduct in court.”
Joey Flechas: 305-376-3602, @joeflech