An insurance company for the city of Miami says it cannot be held responsible for over $10 million in legal fees for the defense of Commissioner Joe Carollo in various lawsuits dating back to 2018, citing allegations that Carollo engaged in “deliberate, willful conduct that was intended to deprive plaintiffs of their property and harm plaintiffs’ reputations to punish and retaliate.”

In a lawsuit filed in federal court this week, the city insurer, QBE Specialty Insurance Company, seeks to recoup $5 million, most of which it paid to the city earlier this year, saying it is not liable for legal expenses incurred in five lawsuits filed against Carollo by Little Havana businessmen Bill Fuller and Martin Pinilla, pointing in part to a declaration from the Florida Supreme Court that “one should not be able to insure against one’s own intentional misconduct.”

Last year, a jury found that Fuller and Pinilla were victims of a political retaliation campaign pushed by Carollo, awarding the businessmen a $63.5 million judgment in the first of those lawsuits. The other four remain in litigation.

“The fundamental premise underlying each and every one of the Underlying Lawsuits is that Carollo — through his own actions and by conscripting others to do his bidding — engaged in a years-long campaign of retaliation and harassment with the conscious objective of inflicting harm on the underlying plaintiffs,” the QBE lawsuit says.

The legal fees have exceeded $10 million to date, according to the lawsuit.

The city said in a statement Tuesday that it was still reviewing the lawsuit and could not immediately provide a response to the allegations.

In January, QBE wired the city over $4.5 million as reimbursement for legal fees in two of the lawsuits — an amount that “exhausted the remaining amount of the $5 million limit” of one of the city’s insurance policies. Not only does QBE argue that it is not responsible for future legal expenses; it also seeks to recoup the $5 million it already paid out to the city.

Reached by phone Wednesday, Carollo said he thinks it is highly unlikely a judge would order the city to pay back the $5 million.

“There’s no chance in the world that any reasonable court is going to agree with that,” he said. He added that he believed the QBE lawsuit is more of a response to the people who sued him and are now trying to collect on the multimillion-dollar judgment.

“There’s never been anyone as litigious as these people have been,” Carollo said of his legal adversaries, adding that it’s been “one lawsuit after another after another.”

The city could end up owing the money at a time of financial strain, following a $25 million budget cut and a hiring freeze implemented in February across the city’s 4,000-member workforce.

The insurer’s lawsuit names various city employees, including City Manager Art Noriega and former City Attorney Victoria Méndez, as well as Fuller and Pinilla, as defendants. Earlier this year, Fuller and Pinilla sued QBE, arguing that the insurance company owes them over $18.6 million for attorney’s fees and a portion of the damages from the $63.5 million judgment. Jeff Gutchess, an attorney for Fuller and Pinilla, said that lawsuit is “seeking to force QBE to abide by its contractual obligations.”

“Needless to say, we look forward to holding QBE accountable in a court of law,” Gutchess said.

Attorneys for QBE did not respond to the Herald’s request for comment.