Joe Carollo can shield home from seizure to pay lawsuit debt, federal magistrate says
Miami City Commissioner Joe Carollo may not lose his Coconut Grove home to satisfy a $63.5 million judgment against him after a federal magistrate judge issued a report in his favor Saturday. A final decision has not been made yet.
Carollo’s home is the current focal point in a years-long legal battle between the commissioner and two Little Havana businessmen, Bill Fuller and Martin Pinilla, who accused him of using city resources to harassthem and their businesses. In June 2023, a jury awarded Fuller and Pinilla the $63.5 million judgment in a lawsuit based on those allegations. The businessmen have been trying to collect for little more than a year.
READ MORE: Who will pay Carollo’s $63.5 million judgment? Probably not Joe, who hasn’t got the dough
In several motions and objections, Carollo and his legal team have been trying to shield the home from being seized. Carollo is trying to protect a two-story, 5,243-square-foot residence sitting on a quarter-acre lot in the Grove. He purchased the home in 2001.
Although the property had been set for auction in March, it was delayed after Carollo claimed his property was protected from seizure. Fuller and Pinilla objected, but on Saturday, Carollo moved closer to a legal victory on the matter when U.S. Magistrate Judge Lauren Louis recommended to U.S. District Court Judge Rodney Smith that Carollo can claim that his Morris Lane home is his homestead, under the Florida Constitution.
If Smith follows the recommendation, Carollo’s home would be protected from seizure under a state constitutional provision that does not allow people’s houses to be taken to pay for legal judgments. The constitutional homestead principle is different from the property tax exemption that can be claimed for owner-occupied homes.
Citing case law, Louis wrote that the Florida Supreme Court “has long emphasized that the homestead exemption is to be liberally construed in the interest of protecting the family home.”
Louis’ report followed an evidentiary hearing in May and further review of the case. The final ruling will come from Smith. Both sides have 14 days to object to Louis’ recommendation.
Carollo’s legal team championed Louis’ recommendation in a statement released Saturday.
“Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo and his family are thrilled that the federal court validated his Constitutional Homestead as a protection against the efforts of local businessmen to take away his only home,” the statement read. “Through this successful ruling, Commissioner Carollo has validated the safety and certainty of home ownership for all Floridians.”
He team went on to say they look forward to appealing Fuller and Pinilla’s multi-million dollar lawsuit win as their claims are “without merit.”
Carllo’s team has formally appealed the judgment earlier this year. The appeal is pending in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.
Jeffrey Gutchess, Fuller’s attorney, told the Herald they are waiting for the final order.
“We do not believe that a Miami City Commissioner should abuse his power to fraudulently manipulate district voting maps for the sole purpose of claiming homestead protection by moving into a house he had famously abandoned to run for commissioner in Little Havana,” Gutchess said. “In any event, Commissioner Carollo should be held liable for the blatant civil rights violations he committed against my clients. ”
The magistrate judge’s ruling comes one day after a hearing to determine whether Fuller and Pinilla can garnish Carollo’s city paychecks to satisfy part of the $63.5 million judgment. Louis questioned what she called “unusual” financial activity shown in Carollo’s bank statements.
The hearing is scheduled to continue Thursday, when the commissioner’s wife, Marjorie Carollo, is expected to testify.
