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Again, in most jurisdictions, a healthy tree limb falling is an act of God, and the tree owner isn’t responsible. And if the owner isn’t responsible, where is the negligence? What duty (under the law) does a tree owner have to deal with healthy tree limbs?
Too much legal speak in that link. Can you quote the specific section that says what you’re claiming, RE: easements?
If the neighbor who owns the tree is notified of the danger and does nothing, any damage or injury is no longer an act of God.
If limbs have fallen off the tree, and the owner does nothing to prevent further damage, then the owner is negligent.
That easement statute doesn't appear to be applicable in this situation.
Again, in most jurisdictions, a healthy tree limb falling is an act of God, and the tree owner isn’t responsible. And if the owner isn’t responsible, where is the negligence? What duty (under the law) does a tree owner have to deal with healthy tree limbs?
Too much legal speak in that link. Can you quote the specific section that says what you’re claiming, RE: easements?
It's pretty simple and I've explained it to you twice now. If you don't understand it, I can't help you with that. Sorry.
If the neighbor is connected to the town or police forget it. Nothing can be done. My cousin had a neighbor who was a cop and anytime anyone parked in front of his house he would key their car. They tried reporting it and it did nothing. So we were told if we came to their house not to park there. He has moved since.
Gave up on reading responses, just here to see how many pages this can get to.
Well if you have some free time on your hands, the thread needs someone to chisel a couple of headstones for people taken out by perfectly healthy tree limbs....
"Herein Lies The Grave Of Ted
A Healthy Tree Limb Is What Made Him Dead
All Arborists Refused To Labor
And The Fault Does Not Lie The Neighbor
And God Said At The Time He Was In Bed"
Quote:
Originally Posted by lubby
If the neighbor is connected to the town or police forget it. Nothing can be done.
Locally maybe, but elevating communication to county and state level officials and representatives might be effective. You have to get someone both at higher level of influence and detached enough from local government and politics. The problem is the OP bailed on the thread, and from info gathered to this point it looks as if the issue is argumentative and a grey area at best.
If the neighbor is connected to the town or police forget it. Nothing can be done. My cousin had a neighbor who was a cop and anytime anyone parked in front of his house he would key their car. They tried reporting it and it did nothing. So we were told if we came to their house not to park there. He has moved since.
Unfortunately, yes. Even if something is "legal" on paper doesn't always make it so in real life. Sad, but true.
A city I lived in once published an info/magazine thingie that was dispersed freely around the area. I read the mission and mantras of the local government as printed on paper and thought "this actually sounds simple, fair, and logical, I like it", but the way things actually went down in daily life didn't match the mantra at all, even evading commonplace laws that evidently exempted those in charge or those connected to them. So much corruption, frustration, and nonsense. I hope the OP finds a way to resolve this challenge without it becoming ugly or costly. Ridiculous.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Quote:
Originally Posted by WRM20
If the neighbor who owns the tree is notified of the danger and does nothing, any damage or injury is no longer an act of God.
If limbs have fallen off the tree, and the owner does nothing to prevent further damage, then the owner is negligent.
That easement statute doesn't appear to be applicable in this situation.
The way the law works here, the tree owner must be presented with a certified arborist's report that the tree or it's limbs" is dangerous. They must also have proof that the report was accepted, such as certified mail. Then if the tree or limb falls and causes damage the tree owner can be held liable.
Absent that it's up to the insurance for the damaged home to pay for any damage. We have experience with this, having many old growth cedars and firs in our neighborhood. We have some limbs now hanging over our neighbor's yard, and they are welcome to cut them off if they want.
It's pretty simple and I've explained it to you twice now. If you don't understand it, I can't help you with that. Sorry.
Aww, you’re still going with your beliefs, bolstered by your feelings, completely devoid of evidence, but presented as facts. Unfortunately, that’s not how the real world works, and in the case of New York, there is a robust body of case law dealing with this exact issue.
Let’s get into the reality of the situation, shall we?
Some of the actual key issues reference at the above link:
Quote:
For a defendant landowner to be liable in tort to a plaintiff as a result of an allegedly defective condition upon the defendant’s real property, the plaintiff must establish that the defective condition existed on the defendant’s property, and that the defendant landowner either created the condition or had actual or constructive notice of its existence (e.g. Kruger v Donzelli Realty Corp.,111 AD3d 897, 898 [2013]; Fontana v R.H.C. Dev., LLC, 69 AD3d 561, 562 [2010]). Id.
Note the reference to “defective condition” above. Healthy trees are not defective.
And:
Quote:
At least as to adjoining landowners, the concept of constructive notice with respect to liability for falling trees is that there is no duty to consistently and constantly check all trees for nonvisible decay. Rather, the manifestation of said decay must be readily observable in order to require a landowner to take reasonable steps to prevent harm (Ivancic v Olmstead, 66 NY2d 349, 351 [1985]; see also Michaels v Park Shore Realty Corp., 55 AD3d 802 [2008]; Lillis v Wessolock, 50 AD3d 969 [2008]). Id.
Note the the reference to “decay” above. That is the defective condition referenced previously. And in the instant case, the OP made it clear that the branches that had previously fallen were in fact healthy.
In New York, the Ivancic case referenced at the above link is considered the seminal case in tree falling liability, with the key issue included here:
Quote:
Considering first the negligence cause of action, it is established that no liability attaches to a landowner whose tree falls outside of his premises and injures another unless there exists actual or constructive knowledge of the defective condition of the tree. (Harris v Village of East Hills, 41 N.Y.2d 446, 449; Restatement [Second] of Torts § 363; Prosser and Keeton, Torts, at 390 [5th ed].) Id. at 351.
The silly notion that a judge will grant an easement, allowing the OP or the OP’s tree service to access the neighbors property to climb a tree and cut healthy tree limbs is, well, fanciful thinking at best, but that silly notion is not supported in the law, and as mentioned earlier, is not how the real world works.
Sorry that you don’t understand this.
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