Welcome to the Broward County
Citrus Canker Compensation Litigation Website

UPDATE AS OF 05/06/08: On May 6, 2008, the jury in the Broward County compensation trial issued a verdict awarding a total of $11,531,463 as full compensation for all 133,720 trees owned by members of the Broward Class. The jury also determined that the Florida Department of Agriculture is entitled to deduct amounts actually used by those Class Members who received Shade Florida “Wal-Mart” cards, as well as $55 payments, from the total compensation awarded. This will reduce the total amount of compensation awarded by approximately $7,000,000. Please check back for further updates.

UPDATE AS OF 2/21/08: On February 21, 2008, Broward Circuit Court Judge Ronald J. Rothschild entered an Order Determining Liability in Inverse Condemnation, in which the Court concluded that the Florida Department of Agriculture’s physical destruction of Broward County homeowners’ citrus trees, which were not determined to be infected with citrus canker but were located within 1900 feet of another citrus tree determined to be infected with citrus canker, constituted a taking under Article X, §6(a) of the Florida Constitution. Therefore, the Court ruled that the Florida Department of Agriculture is liable to pay full and just compensation to affected Broward County homeowners for the full value of the trees at the time they were destroyed. A jury trial to determine the amount of full and just compensation is scheduled for April 14, 2008 in Broward Circuit Court.

If you are a member of the Class and have photographs of your citrus tree(s) taken within one (1) year prior to its/their destruction, please contact Class counsel immediately at rgilbert@hanzmangilbert.com.

Click Here to download the full Order Determining Liability in Inverse Condemnation

This page is dedicated to providing information to  members of the Class (as defined below) and other interested persons concerning class action litigation pending in Broward County Circuit Court against the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (the “Department”) resulting from the Department’s destruction of residential citrus trees located in Broward County, Florida, under the Citrus Canker Eradication Program (“CCEP”).  In this case, Plaintiffs allege that the Department’s destruction of residential citrus trees under the CCEP which were not determined to be infected with citrus canker obligates the Department to pay full and just compensation to members of the Class.  Plaintiffs allege that full and just compensation for such trees exceeds the minimum compensation made available under Fla. Stat. § 581.1845 (the “Statute”), which provides that all eligible tree owners are entitled to receive a Shade Florida debit card with a face value of $100 for the first citrus tree destroyed, and $55 for each additional tree destroyed by the Department under the CCEP.  The Department maintains it was lawfully entitled to destroy all citrus trees located within 1900 feet of any citrus tree determined to be infected with citrus canker, that such trees had no marketable value and, therefore, that members of the Class did not suffer a compensable loss.  Furthermore, the Department denies that members of the Class are entitled to recover any additional compensation for the destruction of their trees except as provided under the Statute.

This case was originally commenced in October 2000 and has been extensively litigated for over six years.  In 2002, the Court granted Plaintiffs’ motion to certify the case as a class action on behalf of the following Class:

All owners of citrus trees within Broward County, incorporated or otherwise, not used for commercial purposes, which were not determined by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to be infected with citrus canker and which were destroyed under the Citrus Canker Eradication Program from January 1, 2000 to the present.

The Court subsequently granted summary judgment of liability in favor of the Class on the claim for additional compensation under the Statute, but denied summary judgment on the claim for inverse condemnation. 

The Court has set a new trial date of December 3, 2007 on liability under the claim for Inverse Condemnation. Damages will be determined during a subsequent trial.

If you are a member of the Class (as defined above), you have certain legal rights which must be exercised in a timely manner. Further information and important documents about this case and your legal rights, including the Notice of Pending Class Action and Request for Exclusion, can be viewed by accessing the links in the upper left-hand corner of this page.