Could have easily lost my truck this afternoon...

[salans7]

Earlier this afternoon it rained, but nothing too bad. I sat down on the couch shortly after getting home, and all of a sudden I just hear the sound of a large tree being uprooted, and then the massive crash. It was a large live oak that was rooted in city owned property behind our houses. It was technically behind my neighbor's house, but it fell diagonally across their yard and into mine. It crushed my privacy fence and their chain link fence behind it, so once the tree is removed, I will have to rebuild all of that.

Thankfully, nothing touched my house. And by some miracle, the tree missed both of my trucks even after it hit the ground and exploded into large chunks. Nothing seems to have touched my trucks at all, but it very easily could have been worse for both the trucks and my house.

I now have a likely pretty big fight to get the city to come clean this up. It's their easement and their land that the tree fell from, but we all know they're going to fight me back. Any tips for how to get them to come out and take care of it would be greatly appreciated. I would like to try and get them to clean up the rest of the easement as well, but it would be a pretty significant job for them so I'm not hopeful for that.

[Gary Lewis]

Wow! That's impressive! But sure glad it missed your house and your trucks.

But I have no advice re the city. I'd suggest hiring a lawyer but that might cost as much as hiring the cleanup done.

[ArdWrknTrk]

I'm glad your stable is safe!

I don't know how your town is set up.

Is the easement part of a park or to use for operations or does your town have just a tree department like mine does?

I have a pretty good relationship with the tree department here, and if they haven't properly maintained the tree they very much want to 'make it go away' before any hackles get raised.

It will cost them 10x in lawyer fees what it would cost to send a crew out for an afternoon.

Document the situation as it is so there's no funny business after you contact them.

[salans7]

I'm glad your stable is safe!

I don't know how your town is set up.

Is the easement part of a park or to use for operations or does your town have just a tree department like mine does?

I have a pretty good relationship with the tree department here, and if they haven't properly maintained the tree they very much want to 'make it go away' before any hackles get raised.

It will cost them 10x in lawyer fees what it would cost to send a crew out for an afternoon.

Document the situation as it is so there's no funny business after you contact them.

Thanks guys!

I'm glad your stable is safe!

I don't know how your town is set up.

Is the easement part of a park or to use for operations or does your town have just a tree department like mine does?

I have a pretty good relationship with the tree department here, and if they haven't properly maintained the tree they very much want to 'make it go away' before any hackles get raised.

It will cost them 10x in lawyer fees what it would cost to send a crew out for an afternoon.

Document the situation as it is so there's no funny business after you contact them.

The easement was initially intended for an alleyway, I'm assuming for services, but it's never been used. The tree was rooted on a parcel that the city is using as a retention pond, so 100% operational. My town is fairly large, so likely has multiple authorities for situations like this. I have already submitted photos of the issues and photos showing that the easement and parcel belong to the city, so they won't be able to deny the trees are on their land, but they may still deny that it's their responsibility, which is what I'm expecting. I'll be calling around tomorrow as well just to make the situation heard and I'll just keep escalating from there until I see results. I would rather keep it out of the court though. Worst comes to worst, I'll just cut it all up and then hire my own crew to trim back the rest of the trees that are dying before they become a problem too.

 

[viven44]

Thanks guys!

I'm glad your stable is safe!

I don't know how your town is set up.

Is the easement part of a park or to use for operations or does your town have just a tree department like mine does?

I have a pretty good relationship with the tree department here, and if they haven't properly maintained the tree they very much want to 'make it go away' before any hackles get raised.

It will cost them 10x in lawyer fees what it would cost to send a crew out for an afternoon.

Document the situation as it is so there's no funny business after you contact them.

The easement was initially intended for an alleyway, I'm assuming for services, but it's never been used. The tree was rooted on a parcel that the city is using as a retention pond, so 100% operational. My town is fairly large, so likely has multiple authorities for situations like this. I have already submitted photos of the issues and photos showing that the easement and parcel belong to the city, so they won't be able to deny the trees are on their land, but they may still deny that it's their responsibility, which is what I'm expecting. I'll be calling around tomorrow as well just to make the situation heard and I'll just keep escalating from there until I see results. I would rather keep it out of the court though. Worst comes to worst, I'll just cut it all up and then hire my own crew to trim back the rest of the trees that are dying before they become a problem too.

Sorry about the inconvenience. It is at the end of the day an inconvenience, no fault of the city (morally speaking).. unless there is documented negligence.... Stuff like this happens unfortunately.

The city's liability claims department should own this. Your homeowner's insurance should be able to advise you as well.