COCONUT GROVE, FLA. (WSVN) - It was hardly business as usual at Miami City Hall, where an embattled commissioner was served with a summons during public comments.
Th recipient of Thursday morning’s unwelcome surprise was City Commissioner Joe Carollo.
A process server who introduced himself as José Mejía said, “Joe Carollo, I have a summons of complaint for you to have you removed from office.”
“Sir, sir, please step away from the podium. That is not on the agenda,” a woman said. “If you are here to do a service of process, please do that, step to the side. Thank you.”
The process server appeared to leave documents on the podium before walking out.
Carollo said he didn’t hear what the man said but quickly found out it stemmed from a complaint, dated Jan. 18, to unseat him from his position in office.
The commissioner spoke with 7News outside the chambers, Thursday afternoon.
“And now is when they’re going to try to serve me? Illegally, in front of the commission, just for another show?” he said.
Carollo called the process server’s move a spectacle, adding he was never physically given any documents.
This latest summons follows Carollo’s loss in a multimillion-dollar civil lawsuit against Bill Fuller and Martin Pinilla, the owners of Ball & Chain in Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood.
The battle between Carollo and the owners of the music and entertainment venue has been going on for years. In June of 2023, a federal jury found the commissioner liable for harassing Fuller and Pinilla and ordered him to pay $63.5 million in damages.
On Jan. 16, the owners of Ball & Chain, filed paperwork in court requesting Carollo to be removed from his position as the District 3 City Commissioner. The paperwork stated that Carollo intentionally violated their right to free speech.
But that’s not the way the commissioner sees it.
“Let’s just hope that all of you in the media would stop being used by these bar owners,” he said.
Following a federal order in January, a U.S. Marshals on Friday placed a notice on the front door of Carollo’s Coconut Grove home, the first part of the process to start repossessing his assets.
“They know well they cannot take my home,” said Carollo.
The commissioner indicated the property is protected under constitutional homestead.
“My attorney said this week we informed the Marshals, so that the Marshals cannot make any move unless a court now has to have a hearing,” he said, “and they can’t win a hearing because I have homestead in my property, just like the Constitution of Florida allows me and anybody else to have.”
But according to the county property appraiser, Carollo’s home on Morris Lane does not have homestead exemption.
“I wasn’t served today, number one. The Marshals did not seize my home last week like it was reported,” said Carollo.
Carollo previously told 7News that the courts have delayed his ability to fight this civil lawsuit against him, adding he has no plans to step down.
Once this reaches an appellate court, the commissioner said, it will go in his favor.
“I deserve due process, just like any other citizen of our country,” he said.
As of late Thursday night, Fuller and Pinilla have not commented about what happened at City Hall.
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