FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) – A federal jury in Florida on Thursday awarded $63.5 million to a pair of businessmen who claimed a Miami city commissioner used his office to harass them after they supported the political opponent of the commissioner.
Miami City Commissioner Joe Carollo was found civilly liable in federal court in Fort Lauderdale for violating the First Amendment rights of Little Havana business owners William Fuller and Martin Pinilla. The six-member jury awarded $8.6 million in compensatory and $25.7 million in punitive damages to Fuller, as well as $7.3 million in compensatory and $21.9 million in punitive damages to Pinilla .
Carollo’s attorney, Benedict Kuehne, said in a statement that he and his client are disappointed with the verdict and plan to appeal. The city of Miami was not named in the lawsuit, but it covered Carollo’s legal fees.
Attorneys for Fuller and Pinilla claimed Carollo violated their free speech rights by arming police and code enforcement to harass them and damage their reputations after they endorsed another candidate for the Carollo city commission race in 2017.
Carollo’s attorney said the commissioner was not specifically targeting Fuller and Pinilla, but was working to improve his district. Carollo is also a former two-term mayor of Miami.
