A Broward County jury sided with the city of Pembroke Pines in its decade-long legal battle with the town of Southwest Ranches over the town’s allegation that the city torpedoed plans for a federal immigration detention facility to be built in the town.
The jury’s unanimous verdict on Oct. 19 means no damages will be awarded to the town, which had argued in the 17th Judicial Circuit Court that the city breached contracts between the two municipalities. The contracts involved the provision of water, sewer, fire prevention and fire protection services to the detention facility that was to be managed by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office (ICE), according to legal documents filed by Pembroke Pines.
The detention center was eventually canceled in June 2012 when ICE decided the facility, which was to be operated by a private company, CoreCivic, wasn’t needed. Pembroke Pines argued that the town failed to offer any evidence proving that its actions relating to disputes over the contracts played any role in ICE’s decision not to move forward on the detention facility project.
“The city of Pembroke Pines believes that the jury correctly decided the issues in favor of the city and is confident that if the town appeals, the jury's decision will be affirmed on appeal and the town will be required to pay the city's attorney fees and costs,” Marianne Wohlert, Pembroke Pines’ spokeswoman, told the Florida Record in an email.
The town had also argued that the city’s actions had led to the town losing more than $100 million in revenues it would have received from the private prison firm, Pembroke Pines said in a recent news release.
CoreCivic, which was previously called Corrections Corporation of America, sued Pembroke over similar issues, but the courts eventually sided with the city and rejected the company’s damages claims, the city reported.
The town attorney for Southwest Ranches did not respond to a request for comment.