A group of property owners in Miami-Dade County are taking the State of Florida to court after seismic blasts from nearby mining operations have allegedly damaged their properties for years.
The group of four plaintiffs sued Attorney General James Uthmeier and Florida Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia in late January. They asked a circuit judge in Miami-Dade to rule on the constitutionality of a Florida law that gives the state Division of Administrative Hearings exclusive purview of damage claims against mining companies for property damage.
The law makes it so people who claim their homes or properties were damaged by explosive blast mining must take it up with the state agency and cannot sue in a court of law.
READ MORE: Miami-Dade mayor vetoes heavy equipment dealership on wetlands
"When someone damages your property, you go file a lawsuit and you go in front of a jury. This law removes the right to go to a court and removes the right to be seen in front of a jury when a mining operation damages your property from their blast," said Steven Herzberg, an attorney for the property owners.
Herzberg also serves as a councilmember for the Town of Miami Lakes, a municipality in Northwest Miami-Dade County that's been vocal about the negative effect on private property from nearby blast mining operations like White Rock Quarry. The town council contemplated suing the state over the mining law last year, but Herzberg said the individual owners are more directly affected and have clearer grounds to sue.
" We know the mines provide important product. This is simply putting property owners on the level playing field as anyone else. If anyone else damaged their home, they would go to court. So why should this one specific industry be treated drastically different?" Herzberg said.
The attorneys argues the state law violates Article I, sections 21 and 22 of the Florida Constitution, which guarantee access to court and the right to a jury trial.
Property owners throughout the state have complained about the damage limestone blast mining operations have done to their homes, including Naples residents in Collier County, according to WLRN sister station WGCU.
The suit does not seek damages for the property owners or describe the damage the owners have experienced, as it is focused squarely on the constitutionality of the state law. Summons have been issued in the lawsuit but the state officials have not yet been served.
