CORTEZ – The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) is proceeding to have Raymond “Junior” Guthrie remove his net camp from Sarasota Bay just off the Cortez commercial fishing docks.
“This case is still in the post-judgment phase to compel compliance with the court’s final judgment, which ordered Mr. Guthrie to remove the unauthorized structure,” FDEP spokesperson Brian Humphreys wrote in a March 14 email to The Sun. “In November, Mr. Guthrie was ordered by the court to show cause by March 5, 2024, as to why this final judgment should not be enforced and why sanctions should not apply. “
Humphreys said the deadline has passed and there has been no response from Guthrie, and FDEP is evaluating its next steps.
“As this process is ongoing, we are limited in our ability to comment further,” Humphreys wrote.
The civil suit against Guthrie was filed by FDEP on Feb. 6, 2018 in the 12th Judicial Circuit Court when the agency claimed that Guthrie had constructed an unauthorized enclosed docking structure on sovereign submerged lands in Sarasota Bay, and ordered its removal.
Guthrie maintained that his family previously had a net camp in that spot and the structure was protected under the 1921 Butler Act, which awards title of submerged lands to adjacent waterfront property owners who made permanent improvements on the submerged lands.
A judgment was granted in favor of the FDEP on Feb. 25, 2019, and Guthrie was ordered to remove the structure.
On May 4, 2023, 12th Judicial Circuit Court Judge Edward Nicholas signed an order dismissing the case due to failure to prosecute, but on Nov. 2 it was reopened at the request of FDEP, which claimed it had not been given proper notice.
