FL H6507

Appropriates $670,493 from the General Revenue Fund to compensate Shuler Limited Partnership for timber damages and legal costs resulting from a prescribed burn that escaped state forestland on April 9, 2008

A jury found the Florida Forest Service negligent, negligent per se, and grossly negligent in conducting the burn in Tate's Hell State Forest (Franklin County), which destroyed 835 acres of trees on adjacent private property

The total jury award was $770,493 ($741,496 in damages plus $28,997 in costs and fees); the state previously paid $100,000 under statutory liability limits, leaving $670,493 unpaid

Attorney fees are capped at 25 percent of the amount awarded under this act

The appropriation represents full and final compensation for all present and future claims arising from this incident