A federal court has ordered the City of Miami to garnish the wages of Commissioner Joe Carollo, months after two businessmen won a $63 million civil lawsuit against him. NBC6’s Steve Litz reports
Commissioner Joe Carollo is speaking out after a federal court ordered the City of Miami to garnish a portion of his wages, months after two businessmen won a $63 million civil lawsuit against him.
A writ of garnishment filed Tuesday ordered a portion of Carollo's wages during each pay period to be withheld, but the commissioner told NBC6 Wednesday that the court can't do that.
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"I think this is another ploy by these characters," Carollo said. "We gave them five, six months ago all the information they need that I'm a head of a household, I maintain my family. By law, they cannot take a penny from my salaries or wages. That's the law that a first year law student knows, but they're going forward anyway."
The exact amount that will be withheld was unknown but the order said federal law limits the amount that can be collected to no more than 25% of his earnings.
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Carollo's annual salary is around $60,000, so 25% would be around $15,000. With his vehicle allowance, electronics allowance and other stipends, Carollo makes closer to $100,000.
The city has 20 days to respond to the order.
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Carollo was found liable in June in a federal civil lawsuit brought by two businessmen who accused him of trying to destroy their businesses as political retaliation.
The jury found Carollo violated the plaintiffs' First Amendment rights and awarded them more than $63 million.
Bill Fuller, the owner of the Ball and Chain restaurant and club in Little Havana, and fellow businessman Martin Pinilla, filed the suit against the commissioner. They claimed Carollo weaponized the city’s police and code enforcement departments to shut down several of their businesses in Little Havana because they supported his political opponent.
"They want to be the godfathers of the City of Miami," Carollo said. "That they could do what they want, get away with it, and they're the only ones that could get away with whatever they want to do. They feel that with two new commissioners that they're pounding their chest, that they helped tremendously in their campaigns, that they're going to be able to scare a third commissioner to go along so that the city won't be able to defend itself, that they could drop all defenses on their lawsuits, they could collect 100 plus million, and they could blame it all on me."
Carollo's legal expenses were paid by the city through an insurance policy, but in a statement after the judgment, fellow Miami Commissioner Manolo Reyes said the city would not be responsible for paying the massive verdict.
Fuller and Pinilla filed a motion in July, seeking to have the city pick up some of the award.
Carollo, in an interview with NBC6 earlier this year, said there's no way he can personally pay the judgment.
"I would if I would have been a crooked elected official that had all kinds of money. But unfortunately for them, and they know it, I've been an honest elected official, that I don't have that kind of money and they know it," he said.
Carollo insisted he did nothing wrong and said he plans to appeal, and ultimately believes the verdict will be overturned.
"If it weren't that the real big guy up there, he's got my back, I wouldn't feel so confident," Carollo said Wednesday. "But I know that I've done what's right for my residents. I'm a man of very strong beliefs in my God, and he's going to have my back and in the end, I will be much stronger than others."
