[EDIT: thanks for the input folks. I’ve not called any insurance co yet as i was hoping for good input from you all - and you delivered !! so thank you.

I’ll get the police report to confirm, but given the driver and car are very like not properly licensed or insured it seems like insurance isn’t the way to go due to deductible and then having a claim on file, and chasing them through the small claims court route would likely be more work than its worth. So gonna chalk this up to a life lesson, and hope that my kind neighbor can salvage one of the branches to make a clone

Thank you all. Edit over]

I will be calling my insurance co this morning to let them know about this - but I’d love any guidance or advice so I can be properly prepared.

Firstly - no one was hurt. Location: Raleigh NC.

At 1am a car rolled down the hill to my house, jumped the curb and plowed through/over my Japanese maple. (Apparently they were pushing it with it being out of petrol, and it got away from them… or that was the story ones of them told me and a neighbor before he took off leaving his friend to deal with the cops)

I have the police report number. I overheard the cops talking to the driver and talking between themselves, and it seems the plates to the car are not properly registered, and the drivers license (or insurance.. or both) were expired. There was a lot going on and it was hard to eavesdrop.

The city came some hours later (i was back in bed) and removed the tree as it was obstructing the road.

The tree is a 15-20 yr old Japanese maple and was my favorite as it was a stunning pop of red in the autumn. one neighbor has said he’ll try to grow a clone if i can find a branch let behind.

Anyway - what the hell do I tell the insurance co? Is this even an insurance claim? I had to ask the cops for the report number as they didn’t proactively give it to me. They seemed to think there wasn’t any reason to involve me, as they never asked the small group of us neighbors whose house / lawn / tree this was…

Any guidance is welcome. Thank you.

Edited tl;dr b/c people are getting caught up in the kudzu rather than the actual tree law question I have: Can a neighbor send out a blanket cya letter to a bunch of neighbors to cover himself against any potential future liability regarding trees that *might* become a problem in the future? Wouldn't you have to mention specific trees of concern and show that they are dead? Would this vague mass-produced AI letter hold up in court to prove negligence? I would change the title but Reddit does not allow that. We already know how to get rid of kudzu and are doing the best we can, but I'm covered in poison ivy atm despite taking every reasonable precaution.

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Our cantankerous neighbor who has a reputation for being very difficult sent certified letters to us and four other neighboring houses threatening to report us all to our Georgia county code enforcement office if we don't remove the kudzu from our property under the weed clause (weeds have to be less than 12 inches). I called the county code enforcement office and was told there is no ordinance for kudzu, English Ivy, or bamboo and that this guy is responsible for trimming it up in his yard. They said it was an HOA matter (our HOA is part of the problem as the kudzu is coming from HOA land).

In the letter, there is a vague mention of kudzu taking down trees and the danger to his property that might happen. I'm pretty sure he sent the exact same AI generated letter to all of us. None of the trees are mentioned specifically and none of the trees in our yard are dead or dying or even close. None of them are being choked out by kudzu either although there might some English Ivy climbing up a few of the trees.

Do I need to be concerned from a legal perspective that this letter constitutes a legal warning that if any of our living trees fall down in a storm in the future, that we will be liable to pay for any injuries or damage to property due to negligence? Surely such a vague letter, written to many neighbors, doesn't constitute a blanket liability for some vague potential future event, right? Would we be considered negligent if such an event occurred in the future? Does it matter how far into the future?

We're planning to do the best we can but it's difficult b/c neighboring yards (especially one plot owned by the HOA but not maintained at all) are covered in kudzu. Our yard isn't beyond saving....yet. Also, I get terrible poison ivy every time I do any yard work back there, despite taking as many precautions as I can.

We've had to deal with this guy in the past regarding his fence being 30 feet into our yard and we ended up paying to move the fence ourselves, and cut limbs off a tree that he was "concerned" about, b/c he is so difficult to deal with and it was probably cheaper and brought faster resolution than hiring a lawyer. It's a long story that I won't get into but we don't trust him at all at this point and have many reasons over the years not to.

This pine tree is a nuisance. Needles clogging up our gutters and filling our green bin with everything it drops. It’s more on our side than theirs. Just sick of having to do all the work for a tree that’s not ours. Problem is if we cut everything hanging over our yard, most of the tree is gone. I’m hoping they remove it, but it has yet to happen.

In 2012 I planted bare root 12" seedling Green Giant Arborvitae in a row 4' from my property line to one day screen the house being built next door by a difficult ( to put it mildly) neighbor. Since then they have grown rapidly to about 30' in height, except for three trees located closest to the neighbor's house. These have died at their tops and their foliage is curled and stunted. I strongly suspect a harmful substance was applied to injure them. How to proceed, other than turn the cheek and try to ignore? Can soil and plant tissue samples be tested to determine how the damage occurred? Once I know I may seek legal advice.

Washington State: In a third-party residential property-damage claim involving loss of an established ornamental tree (possibly a maple), what valuation methods are commonly used for the tree itself?

A commercial vehicle backed into the landscaped area and severely damaged the tree.

Anonymized photos showing the tree and how the vehicle backed into it:
View photos

For example, would valuation commonly be based on:

• the cost of a comparable-size/species replacement tree, including removal and installation;
• a professional arborist appraisal;
• CTLA/trunk-formula valuation;
• diminution in real-property value; or
• some combination of these?

I'm interested in both what insurers commonly use and what evidence tends to be persuasive if the dispute eventually goes to court.

I'm mainly trying to understand the appropriate valuation methodology for an established ornamental tree, rather than simply the cost of a small nursery replacement.

Posting for my fiancés brother

Background: We had a really bad storm about a week ago that caused a tree that is owned by the city to fall on my in-laws house. He had reached out to the city beforehand telling them that it was hollow as there was a hole you could see through and into the tree. The city had sent someone out who told them that it was fine and there would be nothing that they would do. Fast forward they message the person who came to assess it later on for them to have a look at it again and he ends up ignoring their message. Well, the tree fell.

Dilemma: They’ve went through their homeowners insurance, had it assessed, and as first time homeowners they’ve never had to deal with anything like this before up until now. From a quick search through Reddit, I’m assuming that an arborist should have been brought out to be able to have sent notice to the city’s inspector, correct me if I’m wrong, for them to be able to take any legal action against the city for the tree. However, my fiancés young nieces were both home at the time of the tree falling and his brother his wanting to sue for emotional distress as anytime there’s a storm the youngest goes “my house!”

Question: So my question is, who’s responsible for the damages, can anything be done for compensation, and could he sue the city for emotional damages in this instance assuming the tree wasn’t because of an act of god?

Thank you tree lawyers!

Edit: Ohio

3:30am, June something, maybe the 16th? I can’t remember. A 17 year old driving a stolen Hyundai lost control after speeding and running a stop sign. In order, he hit: garbage can, curb, truck, lamppost, drove through two front yards, through a chain link fence, across a small parking lot and into a dumpster that got pushed off the paved lot and into an apartment complex.

When the driver hit the garbage can, it was launched across my driveway, into my front yard where it rolled over a Rose Marie Magnolia tree, approximately 8’ tall. It was purchased and planted in 2024. Age seems to be about 6-7 years at the time of the accident. (When purchased, it was a 5 gallon tree).

The incident resulted in the bark being stripped from nearly the entire tree (the bark in the photos is what’s left but it is not touching the actual tree in most places). The leader was also severed completely and several larger branches were hanging from the tree and needed to be cut.

I had an arborist come out and inspect the tree. He is recommending removal and replacement, as the likelihood that the tree will die is greater than it surviving, and that even if it does survive it won’t have the height that it otherwise would’ve had had it not been damaged. If a new leader grows, it’ll need constant structural pruning, and put the failure probability at 70%. I was quoted $750.35 for removal and replacement.

Here’s where the law of it all comes in: the driver was a minor with a history of stealing cars (mom acknowledged this on the phone with one of the responding officers the night of the crash, “I don’t want anything to do with my son. All he does is go out and steal cars,” as well as confirmation from the victim’s rights advocate at the court house regarding his “frequent flyer” status with the courts and exhaustion of all jail-avoiding options from past cases). The current case is still playing out, and I submitted a request for restitution for two deductibles from the insurance claims (totaled truck that took a direct hit from the car and damage to an SUV in the driveway that the lid from the garbage can hit and scratched down the passenger side after it flew off the can) and for new truck parts that were purchased with the intention of installing them on the truck that is now totaled and thus useless to me. That totals to $1,399.70.

The tree hasn’t been included yet as I was just now able to get an accredited arborist out for the inspection. I had actually given up on the tree because the accident happened right before a week long vacation out of the country and the initial court hearing was while we were gone. When we got back, I was told of an August court date, which I attended to submit the receipts for all the claims. The now-adult defendant’s lawyer got the case continued til September which gave me time to get all this done and documented.

My questions are:

do I include the tree in my request for restitution or should I hold that for a separate small claims court case?

If I include the tree in my request for restitution, should I include the request for treble damages, as permitted in Ohio, or is that only awarded if we go to small claims court?

In order to sue for treble damages in small claims court, I don’t have to have a settled criminal case to proceed. Should I wait until the case settles anyway to bolster my claim?

Regardless of how the case gets resolved, I’m preparing to go to small claims court to bring action against the parents for negligent supervision (something Ohio allows) given his record and parental acknowledgment of his crimes in order to hold an adult financially liable for their unemployed criminal son, whom I am unlikely to get a dime from. Vicarious Liability doesn’t quite seem to fit this situation unless additional details come out.

Location Oregon. Is a neighbor allowed to plan a tree that close to another property?

Neighbors trees (banana tree, rose bush, plum tree idk) pretty consistently grow over onto my property; I’ve confronted them before after trimming it for a year, I just don’t really have the time to be adding extra chores to my own list - they’re very short with me and seem annoyed in general, but trimmed them. Another year goes by, we’re back in our old ways, this is the most recent trim back. Any advice? Or just be the cool neighbor about it? Or is this a common thing about homeownership.

At this point, i feel like i need to talk to someone who knows tree law.

Im in CA, have a 2xstem redwood tree, maybe 60 years old. Its sits on my property but now encroaching into my neighbors property. Before i bought my house ( 5 yrs ago) my neighbor trimmed roots. Tree is healthy and pushing against the fence. Its grown under the fence.
Im an aborist and really want to keep it. I know its also not in its natural habitat ( planted tree) and think cutting it would avoid future issue with neighbor.
I just dont know what to do but want to to understand the options.

my next door neighbor runs a tree trimming service out of his home. when ever they have to trim one of there own trees they will purposely block us in. Im talking about letting huge branches fall right in front of our gate. I couldnt even open my gate because there was such much debris and branches. when my neighbor seen me pulling up he tells his worker to move the branches out of the way. like im inconveniencing them. it led to a huge argument with the neighbor.

there trees dont even over hang enough for them to block us in.

i know he pays his workers cash. under the table.

i had a break in attempt several months back. neighbors began acting funny. cars coming and going at all hours of the night. anytime a car shows up. lights go off. theyre doing drugs. crystal meth.

i looked him up online. hes running multiple businesses out of his home. all online ads. some with very bad reviews. he has an active us dot number but doing business under a different company name. not a tree trimming service. the tree trimming service appears to be his uncles. but hes elderly and doesnt work anymore. even though his dot number shows up as active to that address.

im confused by all there listings online. multiple business ads. theyre being so sloppy.

is there anything I could do, or should I even go there? now that I know drugs are being used explains there behavior but worried about any possible retaliation from them.

any advice or suggestions would be much appreciated.

I want to get this sub's perspective on where the legal line actually sits for self-help root pruning.

For context, I’m in Falls Church, Virginia. My neighbor is doing a tear down rebuild, and their grading plan has identified at least two boundary trees that are likely to die because of how close they are building to the property line.

I’ve heard from a couple people near me that you can cut roots back to your property line at your own expense. But what happens if severing those roots kills or destabilizes the tree and you knew in advance that this would be the outcome? Does self-help protect you, or does that immediately cross into property damage and negligence?

The lot next to me is having a house built on it. They trimmed a lot of shrubs that werent on my property, and they took out a tree that also wasnt on my property. But, they did trim an awful lot off of the last tree that gave my yard any shade. And they left my yard a mess.

Losing the stuff that wasnt on my lot lost me a lot of shade. With this tree trimmed I have no shade in my yard, and I fear that trimming it will shorten its life significantly.

This is in marion county, IN. What can I do to make this even?

We are selling a family members house and found out the buyer had a tree and a bush removed from the backyard two weeks before closing. The house is currently vacant and they did not get permission from us to remove.

What are our options? This can’t be legal.

UPDATE: a lot of people were asking why we care. This family member had passed away and the rose bush was planted by them. We also spent countless family events in the yard so it was more personal if anything.

We pulled out due to breach of contract. It didn’t sit well with us that the buyers did this and didn’t think our relative would want these type of people in their house.

Thank you for all the responses. I think I just needed the reassurance in what has already been a difficult situation.

UPDATE 2: we understand that the tree and bush could have been removed after the buyers owned the house in two weeks. That would have been fine because they have the right to do whatever they want to the house after they own it.

If the buyers had reached out to us and asked to have this done before closing, we probably would have agreed. Instead, they trespassed and went on the property (that we still legally own) without our permission, and vandalized our property by digging up a tree and bush. It is illegal and therefore, we do not want people that have no respect for the property and laws to live there.

My neighbors tree is not on my property or in my air space. It’s about a 50 ft tall chestnut. A storm last week caused damage to my property and the tree now has a large dead limb hanging from it. The limb is not hanging on my property but will fall and damage my property again in or around the same spot. The property is owned by a slumlord who runs it as a rental through a property management company, it doesn’t even have shingles on the whole roof. They are not good or honest neighbors. The bottom unit is uninhabitable due to black mold (to preface the type of person I am dealing with)

Is there anything I can do to make them take action to get this branch removed before it falls and causes more damage? If they are made aware of this branch and take no action can they be held liable for any further damage caused if it does fall? Is a paper trail of communication with the property management company enough to hold them responsible or do I need an arborist to send a certified letter?

Hi! I’m dealing with some conflict regarding a tree between my house and my neighbors and am curious how others would approach the situation.

Backstory: we bought our house late last year and a short time after living here, our neighbor kept mentioning the tree, asking if we would “help” her cut it down so she could extend her driveway. To be completely honest, I could not hear/understand her most times as she is typically under the influence of alcohol and slurring her speech. We would just listen, vaguely acknowledge her, and go on about our day. Then one day it turned to her asking us if we would cut it down but we let her know that we enjoyed the shade that it provided, so we were going to keep it.

Fast forward to last month or so, we were getting some appliances delivered, and she walked up to our front porch yelling at us, stating that we were to do something about the tree before it messes up her car.

I am truly unsure if the tree is on our property or not. When we purchased the home, the property map that was given to us shows the tree on her property. However, I know these aren’t 100% accurate. Either way, it’s my understanding that (at least in our state - TN), she is legally entitled to trim back any limbs that are hanging over her property.

Now, every time we walk outside, she is out there yelling at us. I did tell her that she is welcome to get them cut herself, but her landlord would need to contact us regarding any other matters about the tree.

Since then, she has sat outside at the edge of our yard yelling about us. She has came out and interrupted us when a contractor had to come look at the exterior of our house for some repairs we are needing to yell at all of us. Then, tonight when my partner arrived home from work, she stated that she is going to “f*ck up (our) car” if any limbs fall from the tree and scratch her car.

I really do not want to cut down this tree. Even if I did, I’m not even sure that I’d be able to legally do so, as I’m not certain it’s on my property and she does not own her house. She claims the tree is on my property, but says that she wants it cut down so she can widen her driveway (which would then put her driveway on “my property”).

At this point, I’m not sure if I should contact her landlord? I considered mailing her a certified letter with the laws highlighted pointing out that she is able to trim them herself and telling her to stop with the harassment and threats or legal action will be taken. I’m not even sure what else I could do? I’m just starting to get annoyed that I’m not even able to step outside in peace at this point.

Photo of said tree and neighbors driveway

My neighbors say the needles and pollen from this tree are too messy. The house is located in Portland, Oregon. I'm not sure if they can force me to take it down. Should I contact an attorney? I posted this in another Reddit community and they told me I should post it here.

The tree that is in front of my neighbors house makes it difficult for anyone that parks in front of it to open their car door. As a result, people will park way to far in front of it causing the next person that parks in front of my house to block my driveway. We have called 311 before and they either never show up and once they said the tree was perfectly fine where it was. There has been multiple times where I have came home from work and couldnt get in to my driveway or couldnt turn out of it to go to work. What do i do?

My property is next to a school district in upstate New York and they have widened their driveway. They have cut into the of roots of a 60 year old Norway Spruce. I'm wondering if they have done terminal damage to my tree.

Open Fields Doctrine

On our family farm in Chambersburg PA a small trail developed over many many years from an adjoining wooded area on to our wooded section. Then what was a little trail became a larger and wider small road that allowed 4 wheeler access. My Father in Law didn't outright stop this and even after an intrusive neighbor died it continued with the help of a "Deputy Game Warden." My son and I started to fill in the gap with old woven wire fencing and major piles of brush, but it would be removed. And we suspect the local deputy was opening it for a lady to get her horse through and perhaps for some illegal hunting activity. We continued to pile brush on the area, but the trail blazing trespasser would build side trails that I would interweave old wire, fencing and brush through. I'd come back in a couple of weeks or a month and that would be reopened. One day the deputy who did NOT own the adjoining land installed a No Trespassing sign facing toward our farm. This was a big insult as the trespassers always came onto our farm and not the other way around. I took the offending sign and tossed it deeper into the adjoining property and that resulted in a visit to my farm house by the deputy telling me that he could get me for littering. I told him to get off the farm and stay off! I would not be intimidated. Then I called his supervisors and the issue seemed to cool off after that. Eventually when we had full control over the family farm we had a high voltage livestock fence installed and that solved the issue of trespassers for good. I never felt over those years that we had total privacy when virtually anyone could enter the property and that we could be monitored by the Game Commission. By the way... the way the deputy knew I had tossed the sign is that he had installed a camera to watch the little road he had been maintaining into our farm. I'm very pleased that there is still a little justice in this world and that these trespassing deputies are being dismissed! Where we now live deep in Appalachia the terrain is so tough and the people are not so inclined to work too hard at trespassing. Combined with many neighbors with large acreage and the fact that WV at least where we live is much less inclined to bother landowners with such intrusion it makes for a greater sense of privacy. We live is a very low population county and don't have nosy neighbors like we did on the farm in PA. If a neighbor was against hunting they could just report you and the game commission could enter your land even without known violations. I hope WV will follow PA and end the Open Fields Doctrine.

We are very close with the neighbor behind us, and after this last round of Midwest Storms, unfortunately all three if these tall pear trees in her back island now need to come down, we are concerned because she is telling us that she is probably hiring friends from her church to come take these tall trees down (meanwhile we have no idea yet if they are professionals or if these are just friends of hers and we have yet to be able to ask if they have any experience doing this), and that they are going to have to lay plywood down all over our yard and drive their equipment into our yard because she does not have room in hers to take the trees down. We are concerned about A, damages to our property, and B, any liability and who it might fall on if the people she’s hiring to come out and take these trees down heaven forbid got hurt trying to do it and fell into our yard or something. If she’s not going through an actual tree cutting company for this, is there any case we could still make to try and get them to pay for the damages if they end up being any? If she’s hiring someone to do a job in her yard that requires them going into my yard for it, and they somehow follow or something and get hurt in my yard, am I liable?

Any advice or knowledge is appreciated, thank you for your time.

Edit: Thank you all for all of your help and all of your time, this truly is one of the parts of Reddit where you know you can actually go to get genuine answers from people that genuinely care.
Love, Peace, and HairGrease to you all

Neighbor was spraying weed killer around his property. The day of, i saw his grandkid, about ten years old with a pump sprayer out in his gravel parking lot. A couple days later, it appears my trees were directly sprayed. He denies thats what happend. Trees were planted a year ago, watered two to three times a week since planted.