Author Topic: Florida may reimburse residential citrus tree owners millions for lost trees  (Read 1346 times)

Millet

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Florida may reimburse citrus growers millions for lost citrus trees

Florida may drop a long-running legal battle and instead agree to pay millions to homeowners across the state whose healthy citrus trees were torn down in a failed attempt to eradicate citrus canker. House Republicans have agreed to spend $66 million to end lawsuits filed on behalf of homeowners in Broward, Lee and Palm Beach counties. There are also lawsuits that were filed in both Orange and Miami-Dade counties that could eventually push up the cost even more. Rep. Carlos Trujillo, a House budget chairman, defended making the payments now because lower courts have already ruled against the state in several counties. The House has included the money in its proposed $81.2 billion budget that will be voted on next week."We should pay a judgment that has been levied against us," Trujillo said. "Just kicking the can down the road for the next legislature is probably not the best idea."Class-action lawsuits were filed and courts agreed. Judges ordered homeowners in Broward, Lee, Orange and Palm Beach counties to be fully compensated. Those rulings total about $100 million and a Miami-Dade County case that remains open could double that. Part of the judgments include payments to the law firms that filed the lawsuits.

http://www.freshplaza.com/article/173712/Florida-may-reimburse-citrus-growers-millions-for-lost-citrus-trees
« Last Edit: April 10, 2017, 06:10:58 PM by Millet »

BajaJohn

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Florida may reimburse citrus growers millions for lost citrus trees

Florida may drop a long-running legal battle and instead agree to pay millions to homeowners across the state whose healthy citrus trees were torn down in a failed attempt to eradicate citrus canker.
It's a tough call, but the biggest loss may well have been the destruction of healthy trees that had natural resistance to the disease. As is often the case, death and destruction didn't work anyway and now the industry is looking towards genetics to lessen the problem - after throwing away millions of opportunities to find the genes that they now look to for a solution.