Households to split $42 million in citrus canker settlement
Trees were destroyed by state in effort to protect orange groves
Thousands of South Florida homeowners whose fruit trees were destroyed in the fight against citrus canker will finally receive compensation checks, ending a 17-year legal and political fight that pitted property rights against the protection of an iconic Florida agricultural product.
More than 84,000 households in Broward and Palm Beach counties will split $42 million in state money, under an appropriation by the state Legislature to fund payments they had already won in court. Gov. Rick Scott, who last year vetoed compensation for homeowners, declined to do so this year, according to the veto list released Friday. The amount per household will depend on the number and size of the trees destroyed.
From 2000 to 2006, tree-cutting crews roamed South Florida neighborhoods, cutting down healthy citrus trees within 1,900 feet of infected ones, in an attempt to prevent the disease from spreading to Florida’s commercial citrus groves. The campaign, which failed to stop the disease, infuriated many homeowners who felt their rights were being trampled on to protect a powerful industry.
Homeowners yelled at the crews, set their dogs on them and took the state to court, filing a series of lawsuits to stop the tree-cutting campaign and to win more compensation for the loss of orange, grapefruit and lemon trees.
Toby Bogorff, a plaintiff in the case, who lost a ruby red grapefruit tree, pineapple orange tree and mineola orange tree when the tree-cutters reached her home in Davie, said the case was about much more than a few fruit trees.
“If it didn’t end where it did, the government could seize anything,” she said. “Although this started with trees, it became a much larger issue. This was a constitutional issue.”
Robert Gilbert, lead attorney for the homeowners, said the appropriation of the money represented the victorious end of a long battle.
“For the past 17 years, we’ve fought on behalf of those families to recover the full compensation to which they are entitled under the Constitution,” he said “The Department of Agriculture and Commissioner Adam Putnam fought us at every turn. This year, the Florida Legislature and Governor Scott recognized that the first duty of society is justice.”
The money, which will be available some time after July 1, when the state’s budget year begins, will be distributed under court supervision by the homeowners’ lawyers. Homeowners whose trees were destroyed don’t need to do anything to receive their checks, since these were class-action lawsuits, in which all eligible homeowners were automatically covered. The state kept records of names, addresses and trees destroyed.
The legislature appropriated $22 million for Broward County and $30 million for Palm Beach County, with the amounts determined from the sums homeowners in each county’s case were awarded in court. The total amount available to homeowners will be about $42 million, since some of the money will go to attorney’s fees, costs and interest.
Because these were class-action suits, homeowners don’t need to do anything to receive their payments. Payment amounts will be determined by the number and size of the trees.
Staff writer Dan Sweeney contributed to this report.
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