Quick legal question...

FastEddieB

FastEddieB

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Lenoir City, TN/Mineral Bluff, GA
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Fast Eddie B
A tree located on our neighbor’s property came down and fell on our property, blocking part of our driveway. Minor damage to a fence, but it’s a big tree and clearing it will be no small task:

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Assuming no obvious negligence by the neighbor, is he responsible for removing the tree and repairing the fence? He’s generally an absentee owner who we haven’t seen in at least a year.
 
Short answer... yes. It's probably his cost.

But you could go "good neighbor" and tell them if they pay to saw up the tree and give you the wood, you'll fix the fence on your dime.
 
Better check before you say anything. If my neighbors tree falls on my house/fence/shop etc. it is 100% my responsibility in Alabama.
 
How long are you planning on owning the home?

From there talk to the owner accordingly
 
Completely depends on the jurisdiction. Sorry, there’s no better answer than that.
 
Learn something new every day. Reading the laws it seems even if it’s from someone else property once it hits your land it’s your problem. Seems a bit counter intuitive but that’s the way it seems to fall.

Granted I didn’t check every state but the general consensus seemed to be your out of luck.
 
Varies from state to state. Some states your insurance will pick it up some states his insurance will pick it up.
 
Interesting. I thought it would be some sort of “common law” situation, dating back to 13th century Saxony* or somesuch.

I’ll try to contact my neighbor and ask for assistance. If he refuses, it’s not worth taking to court. I have a chainsaw and a spot for a burn pile, and I can always use the exercise.

*A phrase used by one of the hosts of the “Opening Arguments” podcast, which is a lot of fun.
 
Every place I have lived, if a tree fell on your property it is your problem. UNLESS you can PROVE negligence. Have you ever sent him a registered letter complaining about the tree?

Your insurance company can probably give you a more specific answer, even if you don't want to file a claim.
 
If the tree was dropping golden apples in your yard would you keep them?

Your insurance company probably knows the laws in your area. You could call the insurance company and start the conversation with "I am not making a claim but want to ask a question...." They should be able to help.

On the other hand, I would just get out the chain saw and cut it up.
 
cgrab said:
Your insurance company probably knows the laws in your area. You could call the insurance company and start the conversation with "I am not making a claim but want to ask a question...." They should be able to help.
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Great idea. I’ll let you know what they say.

The tree fell from a heavily wooded area. Not where you would likely be examining every tree for illness.
 
In Texas if it was alive its your issue....dead or dying neighbor is negligent...also call and agent not "the company" as many states they are required to open a claim based on a what if this has happened question...
 
Warlock said:
In Texas if it was alive its your issue....dead or dying neighbor is negligent...also call and agent not "the company" as many states they are required to open a claim based on a what if this has happened question...
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Is this why Clark Howard used to warn people not to call their homeowners insurance company with a what if question, because it has resulted in cancellation even when nothing had happened? He used to talk about how they were dropping people left and right with the slightest hint of a maybe future claim. This made me worry we'd be dropped or at least punished with a huge premium increase after our flood claim last year but nothing happened. I don't know if it was just that we have a good company or if that problem isn't an issue anymore.
 
In Virginia it's your problem. I had a tree fall on my neighbors house. Cleaned up my side. Neighbor's insurance contacts me for payment on damage to his roof. My insurance company says negative, your problem. Neighbor says that they requested that the tree be taken down because it was leaning towards their house. Complete purger. Has brother in law who is a tree guy back him up. Second purger. My insurance company says, well we can go to arbitration/court, you'll have to take off work, multiple days, etc. or we can just pay it. So they paid it. I was furious! Needless to say, neighbors weren't invited to any more barbecues. lol.
 
gdwindowpane said:
In Virginia it's your problem. I had a tree fall on my neighbors house. Cleaned up my side. Neighbor's insurance contacts me for payment on damage to his roof. My insurance company says negative, your problem. Neighbor says that they requested that the tree be taken down because it was leaning towards their house. Complete purger. Has brother in law who is a tree guy back him up. Second purger. My insurance company says, well we can go to arbitration/court, you'll have to take off work, multiple days, etc. or we can just pay it. So they paid it. I was furious! Needless to say, neighbors weren't invited to any more barbecues. lol.
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That can get complex. I don't know about Virgina but in North Carolina this is what applies:

http://www.jmdlaw.com/timber-who-pays-when-a-tree-falls/

Possibly, because the neighbor also knew the tree was a danger but did not offer to come cut it down himself, he was guilty of contributory negligence which might have negated your liability. (Had this been in NC.)
 
Rushie said:
Is this why Clark Howard used to warn people not to call their homeowners insurance company with a what if question, because it has resulted in cancellation even when nothing had happened? He used to talk about how they were dropping people left and right with the slightest hint of a maybe future claim. This made me worry we'd be dropped or at least punished with a huge premium increase after our flood claim last year but nothing happened. I don't know if it was just that we have a good company or if that problem isn't an issue anymore.
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I don’t know about being dropped, but I’ve had a “What If” call turn into a claim without my approval, and later had a heck of a time shopping the insurance because of “claims in the last three years”.

Have also learned that the cheap roadside assistance they all sell, that looks like a great deal, isn’t, for the exact same reason.

Getting towed is a claim, and they’ll report it as such to the shared database, which will lock you into your company for years. You’re much better off telling them to suck it and having something like AAA towing.

Scumbags, all of them. Especially now that they share the claims database.
 
I bet he purposely poisoned the tree out of spite. Muahaha
 
Not sure the technical legal answer here but I know what I would do. Just get out the chainsaw and take care of it in an afternoon.

Pursuing it legally is going to take weeks and in the meantime there's a tree blocking your driveway. Sure you could hire out the work and try to get reimbursed but again that's going to take a lot of your time and either way it goes you'll now have a neighbor you're on bad terms with. Not worth it IMO.
 
I called my insurer (USAA) about a fallen tree and the person on the line said she would not enter a claim because the deductible would probably be more than the claim and she didn't think I would want it on my record. Insurers are different, they are all out to make money but some are better than others.
 
No plan to take legal action.

With the heat, and still recovering a bit from my hand/arm surgery, I’d have to pace myself - my guess it would take me several days to clear it completely if working by myself.
 
Spoke with State Farm.

1) My deductible is $1,000, so no point in making a claim. I’d guess a tree service or handyman could take care of this for under $500.

2) The agent said in GA, if it’s a live tree that comes down from an act of nature, it’s my problem. If it’s a dead tree the neighbor might be responsible because of the negligence involved, but that it was often a grey area.

Probably see if I can get someone to help me and start on it when we get back from TN. I can use the firewood.
 
FastEddieB said:
Spoke with State Farm.

1) My deductible is $1,000, so no point in making a claim. I’d guess a tree service or handyman could take care of this for under $500.

2) The agent said in GA, if it’s a live tree that comes down from an act of nature, it’s my problem. If it’s a dead tree the neighbor might be responsible because of the negligence involved, but that it was often a grey area.

Probably see if I can get someone to help me and start on it when we get back from TN. I can use the firewood.
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Take it for what it's worth, but I was advised by my insurance agent to file the claim anyway. That way, if anything else happens this year, you will have already met some/most/all of the deductible. But since it is almost August already, you would have to hope for another incident in the next few months. My insurance company is State Farm too.

Back in '04 when we had four back-to-back hurricanes, I knew some people that didn't file because the damages were less than the deductible. After the 3rd hurricane, they did file but still had to pay the whole deductible because they didn't claim the previous damages.
 
It looks like Georgia's law is based on negligence. If the tree was diseased and you can show that your neighbor should have known, then it becomes 100% his responsibility. If it's just natural selection, the randomness gives the responsibility to you. The fact that your neighbor is largely absent would make it very easy to prove that he didn't know about the tree if you can also show disease.

Otherwise, chainsaws are cheap, start cutting. I'd also rent a hydraulic log splitter, but only because I've split a few cords by hand.
 
Real similar in NC.
bflynn said:
It looks like Georgia's law is based on negligence. If the tree was diseased and you can show that your neighbor should have known, then it becomes 100% his responsibility. If it's just natural selection, the randomness gives the responsibility to you.
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Following up...

I've finally gotten to work on the downed tree. I've had to pace myself since I'm still not 100% following my hand/elbow surgery.

Over the last couple of days got the whole mess pruned back a lot:

30251734868_af5d136c13_c.jpg


Did it all with the little electric Ryobi, which is actually quite impressive. For what remains I'll use my Stihl to finish up.

The tree actually broke fairly high up the trunk, seen on the left, here:

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Never did bother the neighbor about it.
 
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