Neighbor Tree Law (insurance, house, living)

[kcj]

Over the weekend while we were out of town, my neighbor hired a couple guys to trim our tree. Long story short, I can't find any information on these guys as far as them even having a business license. They went on our property, put their ladder in the tree, and hacked it up. (They left a flier, so we called them to come back. We asked about their license and insurance, they insist they weren't breaking the law because they did what their customer asked them to do. I said they were negligent because they were not given permission to go on our property and they took off on two wheels to get away from us.)

We offered to the neighbor that we would have a reputable company come in and assess the tree, and they could pay the cost of having it fixed. Of course the neighbor says he isn't responsible; I say he is because he hired these people (you can guess how the conversation went) and that we would see him in small claims if he doesn't want to pay for the damage he caused.

Questions.... Am I out of line here? (I understand he has the right to trim branches, up to the property line.) Has anyone ever dealt with this and maybe been able to handle it through homeowner's insurance and subrogation? Any other advice?

[madcapmagishion]

Lets get this straight. They went on your property and trimmed a tree or did they just trim the part that hung over their property? What damage was caused to your property? Negligence I don't get ... trespassing would be more obvious. Whatever you get if you get a favorable ruling would most likely be eclipsed by court costs and time lost, than any possible gain.

[kcj]

If they would have trimmed the part only that hangs on their property, there would be no problem. They trimmed far more than was necessary, about 20-25% of the tree from bottom to top, several branches cut right at the trunk of the tree. They even cut branches that were facing the street and not the neighbor property. There was no consideration given to the appropriateness of the trimming or the health of the tree, they just hacked off whatever branches they felt like hacking.

[bativac]

I think it's fairly inexpensive to file a claim in small claims court, and I would definitely pursue this - if they trimmed branches that are on your property, they were out of line.

I'd have a qualified tree service inspect and evaluate the tree before going thru with the small claims court filing. You can file online (http://www.duvalcourt.com) though I'm not sure of the cost.

[JBtwinz]

This never has a good outcome. Your going to pi&& them off know matter what. I always give our neighbors a heads up when we are trimming on the property line. The days of courteous neighbors is diminishing and the Hatfields and McCoys in the suburbs are growing. Hopefully they will be understanding, good luck It is a tough call because your both have to live next to each other.


PS. I am not saying to take the low road, it's just I have friends that because of some small incidents are now living the neighbors from hell life over things like yours.

[JBtwinz]

https://www.city-data.com/forum/sacra...-down-our.html


Sound familiar?

[GadgetRick]

Originally Posted by JBtwinz

This never has a good outcome. Your going to pi&& them off know matter what. I always give our neighbors a heads up when we are trimming on the property line. The days of courteous neighbors is diminishing and the Hatfields and McCoys in the suburbs are growing. Hopefully they will be understanding, good luck It is a tough call because your both have to live next to each other.


PS. I am not saying to take the low road, it's just I have friends that because of some small incidents are now living the neighbors from hell life over things like yours.

Well-said. Unfortunately, only bad things will come of this. I hate when neighbors can't treat each other with respect.

[madcapmagishion]

Sign expected in front of kcj's house soon, as he tries to sell to get away from the nutcase.

[kcj]

HA!
I think the neighbor already has the non-emergency number on speed dial. He goes in spurts calling on one neighbor or another... his last mission ended when the officer told him if he called again they were taking him in.

[fsu813]

It was I, the Tree Burglar!