Welcome to the Lee County
Citrus Canker Compensation Litigation Website

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 Lee 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 Lee 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 2002 and has been extensively litigated for over four years.  In 2005, 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 Lee 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.

As of August 27, 2007, the Court has not scheduled this case for trial.  Further information concerning this case will be updated on this page as it becomes available.