Attorney or Want to be Attorney Advice Needed- neighbor's Tree Fell in My Yard

[ne ga pappy]

I'm not positive it's necessary to give them notice. It seems that she has been negligent in not keeping up her property. This is a big pine that obviously was dead when it fell. I did not notice it, but it is/was not easily seen at the back of her property.

if it was at the back of her property, would she have known it was dead? That might be hard to prove

 

[Zeeman]

When a tree from your neighbor’s property falls and injures someone or causes damage to your property, if the neighbor should have reasonably known that the tree was dead or diseased either because a) the fallen tree showed visible signs that the tree was dead or had a disease, for example, if the tree had no bark or no leaves in the summertime; or b) if the owner of the tree received written notice from an arborist, building tenant, or another third party that there was a problem with the tree before it fell, then he or she would likely be responsible for paying damages.

As a general rule, if your neighbor should not have reasonably known there was a problem with the tree before it fell, you are responsible for removing the fallen tree from your property.

The best practice is to send the neighbor a letter via registered mail return receipt that a tree is dead on their property and constitutes a hazard were it to fall along with photos - then the hazardous tree is documented in advance.

You could sue your neighbor in magistrate court and the insurance company would have to defend her and might offer you a settlement to avoid incurring legal expenses.You could hire an attorney that would send her a letter threatening to sue and she might offer a settlement amount to avoid the suit. I am not a litigious person by nature and as such I would advise you to just cut it up and haul it off or burn it and fix your fence at your expense without notifying your insurance carrier. It is unlikely your insurance carrier would subrogate against the neighboring property owner's insurance carrier and even though it was not your fault the claim would be on your record.

I believe we can agree that the other party should have known about it. I'm not in the mood to sue anyone either really, but her arrogance and smart ass replies to me are not helping her out any. When I feel wronged, I'm going to do my best to get it made right. I hope that makes sense. If I feel like I will be put in a situation where this deal is going to cost me a lot of money, I will most likely back down. I don't see any harm in going to small claims court, make her pay an attorney, or at least take off from her realtor job to go to court, etc.

 

[roydamnmercer]

I had a 30’ tree fall in a storm and it took out two panels of my neighbors fence and a big wooden swing set of his. I cut the tree up and cleaned up the debris then mended the fence. He hauled off the broken play set since his kids were grown and it was dilapidated anyway. We handled it like grown ups…we weren’t even all that friendly with each other before hand either since he was the president of the HOA and I was one of those outspoken pot stirrers at the annual meetings pointing out his BS. He and I had a better relationship after that incident but I moved to a non HOA less than a year after anyway

 

[Zeeman]

View attachment 6634770
Trust me, this was my tree. I had the fortune of damaging 3 neighbors fences and property. Luckily we all became good friends from the incident. I did the right thing and paid half their deductible towards the removal of the tree. Which wasn’t cheap. Took a crew of 12 11 1/2 hours to clear it all up.

The truck has just one of 4 pieces of the trunk. That’s a solid piece.

Wow. You sure did have a mess! Very neighborly of you too.

 

[Zeeman]

Some years back after a good windstorm, tornada, hurricane etc, someone at the insurance commissioner's office said it very simple. WHERE IT LAYS, PAYS.

If this is true, I'm screwed. It just seems wrong that she will pay to have the tree removed from her yard, but not mine.

 

[Zeeman]

Code enforcement is your friend too here

Ahh, good idea. Thanks.

 

[above_all]

Your homeowners insurance will cover it. Bad as it sounds.

 

[Zeeman]

if it was at the back of her property, would she have known it was dead? That might be hard to prove

At the back of her property, but right on the edge of where the yard ends. Pretty obvious, to me at least.

 

[Zeeman]

Your homeowners insurance will cover it. Bad as it sounds.

Mine said, "negative". They said hers was responsible. I guess I'll call about local codes and contact the insurance commissioner too.

 

[Zeeman]

I guess I should have mentioned that I live in Alabama now. Thanks to all have posted. If I did not reply to you, it was not on purpose. Keep the ideas coming. I will keep you all posted.