A Florida appeals court on Wednesday refused to reconsider its decision to affirm certification of a class of homeowners who say Miami-Dade County’s removal of their healthy trees as part of a citrus canker eradication program caused their property values to drop.
In a brief opinion that provided no explanation, Florida’s Third District Court of Appeal denied the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services’ bid for a second look at its September decision affirming class certification.
The appeals court had rejected the state agency’s arguments that the trial court had applied an improper measure of damages for the destroyed trees and that the commonality required for class certification was lacking because the damages being sought were subjective.
The homeowners are represented by Joseph Serota of Weiss Serota Helfman Pastoriza Cole & Boniske PL, Robert C. Gilbert of Grossman Roth PA, William S. Williams of Lytal Reiter Smith Ivey & Fronrath and Michael J. Pucillo of Berman DeValerio.
