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.
A writ of garnishment filed Tuesday ordered a portion of Carollo's wages during each pay period to be withheld.
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.
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.
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"The law is very clear, if you are a head of a household, you cannot be garnished for any amount whatsoever," Carollo said Wednesday.
The city has 20 days to respond to the order.
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.
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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.
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.
Fuller's attorney, Jeff Gutchess, said it would take a long time to get the more than $34 million Fuller is owed in the judgment.
"It would take at least 47 years if we collect $1 million a year," Gutchess said.
Fuller and Gutchess said Wednesday that the harassment by city officials has continued.
"If anything, it has gotten worse," Fuller said. "We now know that private investigators are chasing our employees, our former employees, around town."
