Florida

Taxpayers Continue to Pay Lawyers to Defend Citrus Canker Debacle.

It's hard to describe exactly why I find the state's continued defense of its disastrous citrus canker eradication program so irksome.

Was it the program in the first place, so badly designed, industry-skewed, poorly managed and enforced, and which only succeeded in eradicating a way of life for many of us who grew up in South Florida enjoying the abundant fruit on every street corner and every backyard?

Was it the way the state wasted millions of taxpayer dollars paying private lawyers to take untenable legal positions and engage in "scorched earth" litigation tactics that only managed to hurt the citizens they were entrusted to defend?

Is it the pointless waste of judicial resources, forcing jurors, experts, judges, and precious time and money to be spent trying the same issues over and over again in county after county?

Whatever it is, the madness needs to end.

Consider the exceedingly narrow playing field carved out by the state in the latest citrus canker case going to trial in Palm Beach:

?It?s better to have a short citrus tree. You get more fruit, and it?s easier to get to,? Parsons said.

Seriously, is anyone even piloting this ship???

Full post as published by South Florida Lawyers on February 25, 2011 (boomark / email).