IN
THE
CIRCUIT
COURT OF THE
TWENTIETH
JUDICIAL
CIRCUIT,
IN AND FOR LEE
COUNTY,
FLORIDA
CIVIL
ACTION RAYMOND
A.
DELLASELVA,
et
al.,
CASE
NO.
03-1947 CA
WCM
Plaintiffs,
vs.
FLORIDA
DEPARTMENT
OF
AGRICULTURE
AND
CONSUMER SERVICES,
et al.. Defendants.
ORDER
GRANTING
PLAINTIFFS
MOTION
FOR PREJUDGEMENT
INTEREST
THIS
CAUSE
came
before the Court on August 18, 2014, on
Plaintiffs'
Motion
for Prejudgment Interest, as corrected by
Plaintiffs'
Supplement to
Motion
for Prejudgment Interest.
Having
reviewed
Plaintiffs' motion
and supplement. Defendants'
response,
other relevant
portions
of
the record, and having heard argument of counsel, this Court
ORDERS
nd
ADJUDGES
as
follows:
On July 3, 2014, the
jury
returned a verdict awarding
Plaintiffs
and the Class
full
compensation in the amount of 285.25 per-tree for each of
the
33,957
trees
covered by this
case.
Based on the per-tree amount ( 285.25) and the
total
number of
trees
(33,957), the
full
amount of compensation recovered is 9,686,234.25. The verdict also determined that the Defendants are
entitled
to certain set-offs, representing the
i)
total
amount of
55
statutory tree payments issued to and used by
Plaintiffs
and Class members ( 1,001,000.00), and
ii)
the
total
amount used by
those
Plaintiffs
and Class members who applied for and received
Shade
Florida
(Wal-Mart)
Cards
( 724,087.00).
The
total
amount
of
these
set-offs is
1,725,087.00.
After
deducting
these
set-offs,
Case
No.
02-13717 AJ the
principal
amount
of
compensation recovered by
Plaintiffs
and the
Class
is 7,961,147.25, before prejudgment interest.
2
Property owners in inverse condemnation proceedings are entitled to prejudgment interest
from
the
date
their property is taken or surrendered.
See
Article
X, section 6 (a),
Florida Constitution;
section
74.061,
Florida
Statutes;
Behm
v.
State Department
of
Transportation
383 So.
2d
216, 218 (Fla. 1980);
Stewart
v.
City
of
Key
West
429 So. 2d 784 (Fla. 3d DCA 1983);
State
Road
Department
V
Bender
147
Fla.
15,2 So. 2d 298
(Fla.
1941);
County
of
Volusia
v
Pickens 439
So. 2d 276, (Fla. 5th DCA 1983).
3
In
Department
of
Agriculture
v.
ogorff
35 So. 3d 84, 90 (Fla. 4th
DCA
2010), the
Fourth
District
Court
of
Appeal
affirmed
the
trial
court's award
of
prejudgment interest
in
the related
Broward
County citrus canker compensation
litigation.
The facts and methodology for
calculating
prejudgment interest in this
case
are identical to
those
in
ogorff
4
Based on the foregoing, this Court
GR NTS
Plaintiffs'
Motion
for Prejudgment Interest.
5
According
to the
spreadsheet
attached as
Exhibit
1 to
Plaintiffs'
supplement, the amount of prejudgment interest due through July 3, 2014 is Five
Million
Six Hundred Sixteen Thousand Four Hundred Forty Four and 00/100 Dollars ( 5,616,444.00),
with
a
per diem
of One Thousand
Thirty-Six
and 04/100
Dollars
(
1,036.04). Defendants do not dispute the accuracy
of
the
calculations
set
forth
in the
spreadsheet
attached as
Exhibit
1
to
Plaintiffs'
supplement.
6
Defendants
argue
that the Court should not award prejudgment interest for the 273-day
period
from
September
2013, the
previously
scheduled
date
of
the compensation
trial
until
June
2014,
when the compensation
trial
actually
began,
claiming
that
Plaintiffs
sought a continuance of
2