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Editor: Ben W. Glass
Profession: Attorney at Law

Category: Ethics and Regulation

I've got a ton of material on the Florida Bar's (We've never heard of the First Amendment) attitude toward lawyer advertising and I have to wonder: just where do they find these folks.

Now I know. Thanks to my friend New York attorney Lisa Solomon, I found out that they actually have a "Tomato Committee" in Florida.

Apparently the State of Florida, and growers of tomatos have been fighting over the marketing, sale and exporting of a particular type of Florida tomato. The argument of the Tomato Heads was that shipping this thing called an ugly tomato meant that there was now competition in the market place for Florida's other tomatos.

Imagine that--market competition in Florida!

According to a New York Times articles, this is what Florida's Tomato Committee does:

The line in the salad bowl was drawn when the Florida Tomato Committee, which controls most of the $500 million industry in the state, refused to allow Procacci Brothers to ship UglyRipe tomatoes out of the state. The committee was established by a federal agreement in 1937, and is one of many such groups that regulate agricultural products in several states.

The committee's rules, called marketing orders, are very strict as to the shape and uniformity of Florida tomatoes that can go to other states during the season, from Oct. 10 to June 15. Flavor is not a factor because, in the committee's view, it is too subjective.

Lawyers in Florida take note: if the tomato growers can figure out how to take on the tomato committee, then you can figure out a way to teach the your Florida State Bar Advertising Committee