Southwest Ranches loses jury trial

FORT LAUDERDALE — Southwest Ranches won’t be getting millions from Pembroke Pines for blocking a lucrative federal immigration detention center from coming to town.

A Broward jury returned a verdict late Tuesday in favor of Pembroke Pines, rejecting the argument that the city killed the deal by refusing to provide water and sewer service to the 1,500bed prison.

“I never had doubts this would be the outcome,” Pembroke Pines Commissioner Angelo Castillo said Wednesday.

At trial, Pembroke Pines officials argued that federal officials decided there was no need for a new prison and announced in June 2012 they no longer planned to build an immigration detention center in Florida.

Town Attorney Keith Poliakoff says Southwest Ranches plans to appeal.

The town says it’s owed more than $150 million in damages.

Had the detention center been built, Southwest Ranches was to be paid $1.5 million a year, plus another $350,000 in annual property taxes.

“The town is incredibly disappointed and heartbroken by the verdict,” Poliakoff said. “The town will appeal, which will likely result in a new trial.”

The jury deliberated for three hours Tuesday before reaching its verdict in a trial that began Oct. 11.

“The jury initially came back hung,” Poliskoff said. “But as the time approached 5:30 p.m., [it] came back with a verdict for the defendant finding that the town somehow did not comply with the terms of the contract, which wasn’t even alleged by the defendant.

On Wednesday, Pembroke Pines officials said they plan to ask the court to order Southwest Ranches to pay the legal fees it spent defending the lawsuit.

In June 2011, federal officials with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced they had tentatively chosen Southwest Ranches as the spot for what would have been one of the nation’s largest immigration detention centers.

Private prison contractor Corrections Corporation of America planned to build the prison on land near U.S. 27 and Sheridan Street in Southwest Ranches.

Pembroke Pines officials opposed the detention center after a loud public

outcry from residents whose homes were near the site where the prison would have been built.

By June 2012, federal officials announced they were backing away from

plans to build the facility in Southwest Ranches.

Two months later, Southwest Ranches announced plans to sue its neighbor.

Southwest Ranches has since bought the land, but it has no current plan in place to develop it, Poliakoff said.

Susannah Bryan can be reached at sbryan@sunsentinel or on Twitter @Susannah_Bryan