Tuesday, August 28, 2001
Mary Barley v. South Fla. Water Management District

no. 00-1998

Orange County / South Florida

Barley and others sued the Water Management District on grounds it unlawfully required them to pay for abatement of pollution in the Everglades they had not caused. They contend this occurred under a pollution abatement tax passed in 1994 that taxed all property owners for abatement. However, in 1996 the voters of Florida approved a constitutional amendment stating that polluters themselves should pay, though the amendment did not establish any method of recouping costs from polluters. The trial judge dismissed the suit, and the Fifth District Court affirmed.