Homeowners fight state over payouts for citrus tree removal

CAPE CORAL, Fla. — An effort to stop the spread of a harmful bacteria prompted the Department of Agriculture to cut down tens of thousands of citrus trees in the early 2000s, but the legacy of those trees remains.

A class-action lawsuit pits thousands of homeowners against the state over compensation for the removal of healthy trees from their yards. Dee Klockow, a Cape Coral resident who’s a plaintiff in the suit, said she and her husband haven’t received the money they’ve been entitled to since a jury ruled the state should pay roughly $285 plus interest for each healthy tree cut down.

The Klockows were originally paid just $55 for each of the four healthy trees taken from their property in 2003.

“It makes you really hate the government,” Klockow said. “‘Cause that’s what they were representing, the government taking our property.”

More than 33,000 trees were cut down in Lee County as part of a statewide effort aganist citrus canker, which could spread by wind. Five of those trees were on the Klockows’ property, but only one of them was infected.

“Actually, we bought the house because of the trees,” Klockow said. “That was our dream, to have these beautiful 20-year-old trees, and we had five of them and they were prolific and beautiful.”

Aaron Keller, press secretary for Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, sent the following statement in response to the Klockows’ story:

The payment of the citrus canker judgments is governed by a Florida Statute, section 11.066, which provides for the Florida Legislature to take up the issue of payment in a “claim bill” proceeding under the Legislature’s rules. The plaintiffs have never invoked the claim bill process.

The citrus canker eradication program was on course to eliminate citrus canker in Florida when it was delayed and halted by a series of three injunctions issued by a Broward County judge. The injunctions were all reversed, but not before the delays allowed canker to spread across Florida in the hurricane seasons of 2004 and 2005. Another serious disease of citrus, citrus greening, was found in Florida about the same time. The combination of these diseases has devastated Florida citrus agriculture.

Klockow heard from state officials who promised to pay but said they needed to get funding from the legislature first, she said. But she and other plaintiffs intend to keep the pressure on until the checks are in their hands, even if it means taking the fight to the Supreme Court.

“We’re not quitting,” Klockow said. “We’re not quitters. The state did something wrong and they need to recognize it and pay.”