Question:

Do I have a case of negligence against my neighbor for his tree falling in my yard?

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My neighbor's 80' tree fell onto my property destroying 2 cars, a 40' tree, a shed full of equipment, part of my fence & part of my roof. My insurance will pay for most of the costs, but not for my old truck (no comp/collision) or my 40' tree. My insurance said I must get the money from my neighbor's insurance.

Here are some facts: My neighbor has had construction going on in his backyard for 5 months. He had a 60' tree cut down and the stump ground up that was planted next to the tree that fell. He had a fence constructed near the trees and the roots were cut to make way for the fence. He had tons concrete and dirt removed with a bobcat that used a pathway over the roots of the trees. People trapsed over the roots day in and day out and they dug trenches to reroute pipes to yard where the trees are.

Do I have a case for negligence? All I want is the cost of the truck, tree and any out of pocket expenses I incur (<$5000). My neighbor insists he is not culpable.

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  1. Our tree fell on our neighbors old truck that had been sitting there for years, and was only worth about $100...We ended up giving him $500 just to keep the peace...I think his home owners insurance needs to step up...


  2. You can talk to a lawyer, but if you own the house, and want to continue living there... a law suit would create a hostile neighbor. One that some day you would be willing to pay $5000 to have a better neighbor.

  3. You would have to prove negligence on his part.  This might be difficult to due however.  He can claim root-rot, act of god, etc.

    Your best bet would be to take him to small claims court.  You won&#039;t need a lawyer, and only need to have reasonable doubt to win your case.

  4. You may be better off trying to sue the construction crews instead of the neighbor.

    Short answer - for you to file claim on the neighbor, the neighbor would have had to know PRIOR TO THE INCIDENT that the tree was subject to falling and the neighbor would have to choose to NOT do anything about the potential threat of damage.

    You&#039;ll be best served to file our claims on YOUR insurance company and gt on with your life.

    Good luck and I hope this helps!

  5. You cannot make a &quot;claim&quot; against his insurance.  You will have to sue him, after which his insurance will presumably defend.

  6. As pointed out by most, you have to prove that your neighbor was negligent.  

    You might want to contact your Homeowner&#039;s insurance carrier.  If they felt that your neighbor was negligent for the damage to your property, they certainly would  have referred the claim over to their subrogation department for recovery.

    If they did, you can ride on their coat tales so to speak.  Your neighbor would have referred the matter over to his insurance company to handle. You can also contact this insurer and file a liability claim directly.  You DO NOT need to sue at this point.  They will complete their investigation, and let you know if their insured was negligent.

  7. First off, I am not a lawyer, so PLEASE DO NOT TAKE THIS AS LEGAL ADVICE!  CONSULT A LAWYER FOR REAL LEGAL ADVICE!

    In order to prove negligence, you have to prove 4 elements:  Duty, breach of duty, causation, and damage.  This is stuff you can easily find explained online.  Consider this series of questions to decide if you think you have all 4 elements.

    Duty:  Your neighbor has a duty to make a reasonable effort to keep his stuff from destroying your stuff.  This includes maintenance of his trees.  The question here is if he took steps that a reasonable person would take to secure and maintain the tree?  I don’t know what state you live in/what the soil and weather is like there, so I can’t guess if he was reasonable there or not.

    Breach:  This part is simple.  If there was a duty to maintain the tree, did he do it?  If not, he breached his duty.

    Causation:  Did his neglecting the tree maintenance cause the tree to fall, or were there other factors that caused it to fall?  Another way to look at this is with the “but for” test.  But for the lack of maintenance, would the tree have stayed up?  

    Damages:  Did you receive some sort of damage from the breach of duty?  Duh!  Obviously you did.

    In addition to your question there are a few other things that you could consider.  

    First off, maybe your neighbor is the wrong guy to go after.  I would guess that the crew that removed trees would have/should have known that the strength of the tree would be weakened by all the construction and digging.   Apply the duty, breach, causation, damages test to the work crew, because they might be the really liable party.  Generally, this is where “Licensed, bonded, insured” works for you.  They have insurance to pay for their mistakes, and a union to complain to if they are giving you the run-around.

    Secondly, think about your relationship with your neighbor.  While it sucks to eat a $5k bill, it may suck worse living next to a guy that hates you.  People get really scared when you talk about suing them, and then they do and say crazy things.  I have seen things like this get VERY ugly.  THINK LONG AND HARD BEFORE YOU SUE YOUR NEIGHBOR.  Maybe try talking to him and telling him that your insurance company said that “you should sue HIS insurance company”, not “You should sue HIM.”  Removing the conflict from him v you to you + him v the greed faceless deamon insurance company might save you and him a lot of hurt feelings.

    Good luck and I hope this helps!

  8. What caused the tree to fall over?

    Was the tree dead/dying?

    Did the tree come up by the roots or did the trunk break?

    How big is the root ball that came up?

    Where was the construction in relationship to the tree?

    You have not provided enough information.

    If a healthy tree comes down  then generally  you are not responsible for what the tree lands on.

    People &quot;traipsed over the roots day in and day out&quot; is not likely to cause the tree to fall down. You&#039;re stretching it with that one.

  9. Depends on what state you are in.

    Did the tree looked sick at all ?

    For you to prove negligence, you must prove he knew it might fall.

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