In addition to a 1998 settlement of $3 million, the court ruled the defendants also must pay the 84-year-old Entrepreneur of the Year $650,000 in lost rent and other cleanup costs for allegedly polluting his land in suburban Sanford, FL between 1967 and 1991. Paulucci sued those firms in 1996.

His suit claimed the defendants hadn't paid the cleanup costs or obtained government certification that the cleanup job was completed within 15 months, as previously ordered. The suit reached the High Court in Tallahassee after the Fifth District Court of Appeal in Daytona Beach, FL questioned whether an earlier state Circuit Court ruling had the authority to enforce the additional settlement claims.

The Orlando law firm of Drage, deBeaubien, Knight, Simmons, Mantazaris & Neal represents Paulucci. "After 12 years of trying to get the defendants to clean up the pollution, we found more pollution in December 2002 and have now amended our complaint" on the newest issue, Drage deBeaubien partner David Simmons tells GlobeSt.com. Simmons says Paulucci now has "a valid judgment" to collect the $650,000 "which we will do."

Ernst & Young named Paulucci Entrepreneur of the Year in the United States for 2002. He vies for international entrepreneur honors in Monte Carlo next year.

Paulucci developed the affluent community of Heathrow, FL 30 years ago from a 3,000-acre tract he owned 25 miles north of Downtown Orlando in Seminole County.

He attracted international media attention in the 1960s when he sold his Chun King Corp. to R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Inc. for $63 million cash and became the first chairman of RJR Foods Inc. The firm later became RJR-Nabisco Corp. Paulucci's frozen food firms produce the Michelina and Budget Gourmet line.

Instant Insights /

State High Court Backs Paulucci in Pollution Cleanup Suit

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