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Canker jurors get lesson in tree pricing

Miami Herald – April 23, 2008

BY PHIL LONG
plong@MiamiHerald.com

Jurors in the first landmark citrus canker class-action suit to go to trial took a field trip from their Fort Lauderdale courtroom Wednesday to get a brief lesson in citrus tree prices.

Figuring it was easier to bring the 14-member panel to the trees than take the trees up to their eighth-floor Fort Lauderdale courtroom, lawyers found four parking spaces in a sun-bathed lot across the street to make their case on the cost of citrus trees.

Just after lunch, the jurors gathered around six trees and a bush in black plastic pots, ranging from about two feet tall to more than eight feet tall. One of the trees produces lemons for pink lemonade.

They learned that in many cases it could cost considerably more than the $55 to $100 the state has paid many homeowners for the trees that were cut down as part of the state’s controversial canker eradication program.

More than 58,000 Broward homeowners are seeking damages from the state for cutting down trees that they say were healthy. State officials, as part of the failed program, cut uninfected trees that were within a 1,900-foot buffer zone surrounding trees that were diseased.

The homeowners want more money from the state for their lost trees — payouts that could top millions of dollars if plaintiffs prevail in several class action lawsuits filed across the state.

But state officials say the homeowners are not entitled to more money because the trees would likely have become infected and declined. The cost of a common, small replacement citrus tree would be less than $55, they argue.

VARYING HEIGHTS

On Wednesday, the trees were brought in from a Palm Beach County nursery whose owner, Richard Wilson, a witness for homeowners in the case, described each of the trees, discussed the varying heights, so jurors could get a better idea of how replacement trees are sold and what they cost.

The trees Wilson showed ranged in price from $25 for a small lemon bush and between $300 and $400 for a Sicilian lemon tree that stood about eight to 10 feet tall.

SEVEN-GALLON POT

On cross-examination by state attorney Wes Parsons, Wilson acknowledged that the biggest selling category for someone wanting a tree they can drive home with is one in a seven-gallon pot, three feet tall, costing $50. But he said he sells mostly larger citrus trees in 25-gallon pots and higher. Later Wednesday, Barbara Granger, owner of Spyke’s Groves in Davie, testified that in 1999 she was selling three-foot citrus trees in three-gallon pots for $24.94, with a seven-foot tree in a 45-gallon pot selling for $349.95.

Homeowner attorney Bobby Gilbert has said that one of the largest groups of uninfected citrus taken during the eradication program in Broward County were those in the 12-foot range.

The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services has yet to call its witnesses to talk about tree prices, but Parsons has said that the most common method of tree replacement is to buy a sapling-size tree for less than $50.

The trees were sacrificed in a failed effort to keep citrus canker from spreading to other South Florida neighborhoods and to the commercial citrus industry, especially the fresh fruit producing areas of Central Florida.

Similar lawsuits are pending in Miami-Dade, Palm Beach, Lee and Orange counties. Before the federal government pulled the plug on the nearly 11-year-old program in 2006, state and federal officials spent about $1 billion.

The main issue in this trial is what the trees were worth when were destroyed, Gilbert has argued, not what they might be worth if they eventually got canker.

Earlier this week, deputy agriculture Commissioner Craig Meyer acknowledged that there are no studies that prove that every citrus tree in the 1,900-foot zone will come down with the disease.

DISEASED TREE

At the close of Wednesday’s session, Parsons asked permission to take jurors on another field trip: this time to see a citrus tree that has canker.

Gilbert objected strenuously.

Circuit Judge Ronald Rothschild said he would hear further arguments and decide later.

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