US Marshals show up at Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo’s home, beginning seizure process

MIAMI – U.S. Marshals visited Joe Carollo’s Coconut Grove home Friday afternoon and taped a notice to the front gate, starting the process of seizing the house to satisfy part of a massive legal judgment against the Miami city commissioner.

Federal agents began the seizure process on the Morris Lane home to satisfy a portion of a $63.5 million judgment in favor of Little Havana businessmen Bill Fuller and Martin Pinilla.

A federal civil jury determined last summer that the longtime elected official infringed on their constitutional rights by using his office to retaliate against them.

Legal analyst David Weinstein told Local 10 News on Friday that the visit by U.S. Marshals is just an initial step and does not mean Carollo has lost his house.

“(It) doesn’t mean that this house is going to be seized and put up for auction today, tonight or tomorrow,” Weinstein said.

Carollo, who’s expected to appeal the seizure order, has said he’s confident the home will remain in his hands.

He claims his home is shielded from seizure since he is now living in it after the city created new voting maps during redistricting, which added his Grove home into District 3.

But legal experts told Local 10 News last month that his case isn’t so clear-cut.

Records show no homestead exemption on the property and an attempt on a quit claim deed to add his wife’s name to the title appears to have failed.

But Carollo’s attorney, Marc Sarnoff, a former Miami city commissioner, argues that the home is indeed marital property and the commissioner should be afforded due process.

“It doesn’t matter whether it’s in one name or another. It’s an equitable right. She has an equitable right,” Sarnoff said. “This is his house and his wife’s house, tenants by the entirety. They’ll be able to come in and out as they choose.”

Carollo himself called the whole thing a “circus.”

“In America, even for Joe Carollo, there is due process,” the commissioner said, referring to himself in the third person. “That’s what our courts say, that’s what our constitution says. I’m not getting due process.”

Fuller and Pinilla’s attorney, Jeff Gutchess, said his side will ultimately prevail.

“Although Carollo continues to resist the consequences of his misconduct, they should serve as a clear reminder to other public officials that their political authority is derived from the public trust and is not a tool to advance their corrupt personal ambitions,” he said in a statement.

Weinstein said to expect for the process to continue to play out in court.

“The writ of execution and the notices being given here is, we have a judgment, and when that judgment is final and upheld and a judge decides it’s not marital property and it does in fact belong to Joe Carollo, then the plaintiffs are entitled to seize it, put it up for auction, sell it to get money to satisfy the judgment,” Weinstein said.