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State is ordered to pay more for citrus trees it cut down
Associated Press
Published December 11, 2007
WEST PALM BEACH - The state owes fair compensation to nearly 41,000 Palm Beach County residents who had their citrus trees cut down during a failed decade-long effort to eradicate a harmful bacteria, a judge ruled.
The class-action lawsuit was filed against the state Agriculture Department on behalf of David and Lillian Mendez of Boca Raton, who had their citrus trees cut down in 2001.
The court found that the destruction of the trees constituted a "taking" under the Florida Constitution, "requiring full and just compensation," Circuit Judge Robin Rosenberg wrote in her ruling late Friday.
A jury trial March 31 will determine how much the state owes the plaintiffs.
The Palm Beach County case was the first of five pending canker lawsuits against the state to go to trial. Similar lawsuits are pending in Broward, Lee, Miami-Dade and Orange counties.
State Agriculture Commissioner Charles H. Bronson said the agency plans to appeal. He said the ruling could have a chilling effect on state agencies trying to eradicate pests or quell disease outbreaks.
During the trial, the department argued that the tree removals were necessary to prevent potential catastrophic losses to the commercial citrus industry. Plaintiffs said the removals were not needed and were based on flawed science.
None of the more 66,000 trees cut down in the county were determined to be infected with canker, a disease that can be transferred by birds, humans and wind, makes fruit blemish, and prompts it to drop prematurely. It does not harm people.
However, under the state's tree removal program, all citrus trees within 1,900 feet of an infected tree were ordered destroyed. About 16.5 million residential, nursery and commercial trees were destroyed statewide, including more than 800,000 from the yards of homeowners.
The program ended last year after state officials and the U.S. Agriculture Department, which helped pay for the removals, determined that hurricanes had spread the disease beyond containment.
The state compensated residents with $100 vouchers for the first tree cut down and $55 for each tree after, but angry homeowners felt that wasn't enough.
The Florida Supreme Court ruled in 2005 that the eradication program was valid. However, the court said the compensation met the low end of the threshold. The high court left it up to judges and juries to determine if the trees were of higher value.
[Last modified December 10, 2007, 22:15:15]
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