What to Know
- Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo spoke with NBC6 on Tuesday, just days after a jury found him liable for $63 million in a federal lawsuit
- Carollo said he's confident the jury verdict will be overturned on appeal, and said he has no plans to pay the judgment
- Carollo said the city also won't be paying the massive verdict, and laughed off calls for him to resign
Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo believes a $63 million verdict against him in a civil political retaliation lawsuit will be overturned on appeal, and said he has no plans to pay the enormous sum.
In an exclusive interview with NBC6 Tuesday, Carollo defended himself less than a week after a federal jury found him liable in a lawsuit filed by two businessmen who'd claimed Carollo used his office to harass them as political retaliation.
The jury found Carollo liable for violating the First Amendment rights of Little Havana business owners William Fuller and Martin Pinilla.
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Fuller, the owner of the Ball and Chain restaurant and club, and Pinilla 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 denied the claims Tuesday.
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"I have done nothing wrong, nothing was shown, not one person could say nor could they show, on any individual that I ordered anybody to do anything wrong. Sadly, the jury never got to hear from so many of the people who are residents in Little Havana that didn't get to sleep at nights," Carollo told NBC6. "I have no doubt, once it's appealed, will be overturned."
Jurors awarded Fuller more than $25 million in punitive damages and more than $8 million in compensatory damages. Pinilla was awarded nearly $22 million in punitive damages and more than $7 million in compensatory damages.
Carollo said there's no way he can 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.
It's unclear who will be paying the damages, though Carollo insisted the city won't be on the hook for it.
It was reported during the trial that the city had already paid about $2 million of Carollo's attorney's fees. He said Tuesday that the city had probably paid another $1 million or more.
He said taxpayers picking up the tab was appropriate.
"Can you imagine who would run for public office if wealthy people could sue you for any decision that they don't like? Who is gonna run for office then if you're gonna have to pay out of your own pocket attorney's fees?" Carollo said. "Obviously they could be spent much better but it's not my fault that they're the ones that filed a suit like this against me, against the city of Miami separately."
Carollo said he's been generating millions for city through contracts he's negotiated, an amount that's much more than the attorney fees.
"Joe Carollo has been a money-making machine for the city of Miami," he said. "Even if, let's say for the next 20 years the City of Miami has to pay $2 million, $3 million in attorneys fees for me, it's a hell of a deal to have me as an elected official cause I bring them millions more in new ideas that generate recurring revenue than anything they're gonna have to pay."
Carollo spoke after a group of activists held a news conference outside Miami City Hall to call for Carollo's resignation. The commissioner laughed off the suggestion that he'd resign.
"Those 15 people who were there in front of City Hall, it's part of the same group that the plaintiffs have been with for last past years," he said. "They tried to recall me, they failed. They went against me in my last re-election a year and a half ago and I won with 65% of the vote. So this isn't new."
