Conner v. Reed Bros., Inc.

567 So. 2d 515, 1990 WL 135824
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedSeptember 21, 1990
Docket89-03291
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 567 So. 2d 515 (Conner v. Reed Bros., Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Conner v. Reed Bros., Inc., 567 So. 2d 515, 1990 WL 135824 (Fla. Ct. App. 1990).

Opinion

567 So.2d 515 (1990)

Doyle CONNER, As Commissioner of Agriculture, State of Florida, Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services of the State of Florida, and the State of Florida, Appellants,
v.
REED BROS., INC., Appellee.

No. 89-03291.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Second District.

September 21, 1990.

Mallory E. Horne, General Counsel, Florida Dept. of Agr. and Consumer Services, Tallahassee, for appellants.

Douglas A. Lockwood, III, and Kerry M. Wilson of Peterson, Myers, Craig, Crews, *516 Brandon & Mann, P.A., Winter Haven, for appellee.

ALTENBERND, Judge.

The Department of Agriculture appeals an order of taking in an inverse condemnation action arising from the citrus canker eradication program. We affirm the trial court because it correctly followed the guidelines established in Graham v. Estuary Properties, Inc., 399 So.2d 1374 (Fla.), cert. denied sub nom., Taylor v. Graham, 454 U.S. 1083, 102 S.Ct. 640, 70 L.Ed.2d 618 (1981), and Department of Agriculture v. Mid-Florida Growers, Inc., 521 So.2d 101 (Fla. 1988). Because the parties agree that the facts in this case are unique and concern a quarantine to prevent only economic damage, we doubt this citrus canker case announces any rules of broad application concerning other types of quarantines. Accordingly, we decline to certify this case as one involving issues of great importance.[1]

Reed Brothers, Inc., owns a citrus nursery in Polk County, Florida. In 1985, Reed Brothers specialized in growing citrus seedlings from the seed of the Swingle hybrid, which is a member of the citrumelo group. Reed Brothers grew these seedlings as root stock in its greenhouses. It sold its seedlings to other nurseries. Those nurseries grafted suitable bud stock to the seedlings and raised the grafted citrus plants until they were sufficiently mature to plant in groves.[2]

In September 1985, the Department imposed a broad quarantine on the movement of any variety of citrus nursery plants. By November 1985, the quarantine was narrowed, but still restricted citrus of the Swingle hybrid. Effective December 16, 1985, the Department adopted an emergency rule which stated that citrus of the Swingle hybrid, including seedlings and seed source trees, would be under quarantine until November 1, 1986.

At the time of the quarantine, Reed Brothers had approximately 365,000 Swingle hybrid seedlings and a small grove of Swingle seed source trees. The seedlings were ready to market. Typically, Reed Brothers' seedlings were sold after three-to-six months of growth, which is the ideal time for grafting. It is undisputed that these seedlings had no commercial value except as root stock and that a seedling which was one year old would no longer be suitable for grafting.

In December 1985, the Department presented Reed Brothers with a proposed compliance agreement requiring either a one-year quarantine of its nursery or the destruction of all its seedlings. Either option proposed by the Department had the effect of totally destroying the seedlings' market value. Moreover, the Department would not allow Reed Brothers to begin a new crop with a different variety of seeds unless it also destroyed the Swingle seed source trees in the grove.

Although Reed Brothers did not challenge the December 16, 1985, quarantine order in either an administrative or judicial proceeding, it did attempt to find someone in the Department who would allow Reed Brothers to save its trees and seedlings. Its efforts were unsuccessful. Reed Brothers declined to sign the proposed compliance agreement but did destroy its seedlings and seed source trees under departmental supervision as required by the agreement. Thereafter, Reed Brothers brought this action for inverse condemnation.

It is undisputed that no one ever observed any sign of disease in any of Reed Brothers' trees or seedlings, and the stock appeared healthy. In 1985, however, the Department's experts believed that the state was experiencing an outbreak of citrus canker, that the disease could remain dormant or undetectable for a significant period of time, and that Swingle variety citrus provided an ideal host for the disease. *517 Thus, the quarantine of Reed Brothers was purely precautionary to prevent a potential, but invisible and undiagnosed, disease from spreading to other groves. Since 1985, expert opinion on this subject has changed dramatically. Nevertheless, we emphasize that neither the trial court nor this court has determined that the Department's earlier opinions were arbitrary, capricious, or unreasonable.

After hearing the evidence, the trial court determined that the Department had properly exercised its police powers by imposing the quarantine. Nevertheless, it found that the Department had deprived Reed Brothers of all or most of its interest in the property. Relying upon Estuary Properties and Mid-Florida Growers, the trial court found a taking under article X, section 6, Florida Constitution.

The Department forcefully argues that a quarantine as applied to a specific property cannot be both a lawful exercise of police power and a constitutional taking. It argues that the Florida Supreme Court misapplied Pennsylvania Coal Co. v. Mahon, 260 U.S. 393, 43 S.Ct. 158, 67 L.Ed. 322 (1922),[3] in Mid-Florida Growers. Even if the Department is correct in its argument, this court has no authority to overrule Mid-Florida Growers and Estuary Properties.

In Estuary Properties, the court held that:

There is no settled formula for determining when the valid exercise of police power stops and an impermissible encroachment on private property rights begins. Whether a regulation is a valid exercise of the police power or a taking depends on the circumstances of each case. Some of the factors which have been considered are:
1. Whether there is a physical invasion of the property.
2. The degree to which there is a diminution in value of the property. Or stated another way, whether the regulation precludes all economically reasonable use of the property.
3. Whether the regulation confers a public benefit or prevents a public harm.
4. Whether the regulation promotes the health, safety, welfare, or morals of the public.
5. Whether the regulation is arbitrarily and capriciously applied.
6. The extent to which the regulation curtails investment-backed expectations.
See Pennsylvania Coal Co. v. Mahon, 260 U.S. 393, 43 S.Ct. 158, 67 L.Ed. 322 (1922); Hadacheck v. Sebastian, 239 U.S. 394, 36 S.Ct. 143, 60 L.Ed. 348 (1915); Newman v. Carson, 280 So.2d 426 (Fla. 1973); State Plant Board v. Smith, 110 So.2d 401 (Fla. 1959); Varholy v. Sweat, 153 Fla. 571, 15 So.2d 267 (1943).

Estuary Properties, 399 So.2d at 1380-81. Although the abovequoted language in Estuary Properties seems to contemplate a dichotomy separating the valid exercise of police powers from takings, the supreme court has unequivocally held that "it is a settled proposition that a regulation or statute may meet the standards necessary for exercise of the police power but still result in a taking." Mid-Florida Growers,

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567 So. 2d 515, 1990 WL 135824, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/conner-v-reed-bros-inc-fladistctapp-1990.