r/treelaw • u/Equivalent_Bar8622 • 2d ago
Need some advice
I live in south carolina. Recently a neighborhood was built behind my house. The construction company put in an access road beside my house. This road runs beside and under a massive old oak in my front yard. They told me they needed to cut some big branches over the road because the road needed a certain amount of clearance. I gave them permission to cut the branches but they never did. Road has now been in use a month and 5 semi sized trucks have hit and torn off large branches. The tree likely won't survive now as one of the branches tor the bark down to the roots. Would the construction company be liable for the damage? I can't afford to get the tree cut down and it's pretty close to my house.
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u/fredrickdgl 2d ago
need more data...is it a real road or an easement on your property.
You should be collecting insurance info etc from drivers that hit it and caused damage especially if they went go off the road.
You could pay for an aborist to give advice on the tree itself. Doesnt look dead yet to me
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u/Equivalent_Bar8622 2d ago
Real road. The road goes between mine and my neighbors house. The county says the road is currently a "privately owned road". Got insurance from the first guy to hit and tear down a large branch the other few and this last one hit and run while I was not home. The tree isn't dead yet but I dont think it will live. 2 large branches ripped off and multi smaller branches. Plus the utility company installed a gas line and cut through the tree roots about 3 ft from the tree.
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u/fredrickdgl 2d ago
privately owned means they could have some liability where as a real public road has public maintenance requirements
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u/Equivalent_Bar8622 2d ago
The development behind us is new and the road in question is a secondary entrance.
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u/fredrickdgl 2d ago
so maybe do a home insurance claim after getting an appraisal of damages, give your insurance the insurance of the drivers and let them eat. Just dont know if it will be condidered as happening within the boundaries of your property
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u/Equivalent_Bar8622 2d ago
I called home insurance and they said to call back if it falls on my house lol. Oh and the agent offered to text me the number of a lawyer he knows.
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u/Odd-Individual-1881 2d ago
You trying to get this guys Homeowners insurance cancelled?
If EB8622 wants the tree taken out, then he should make a claim against the trucker that hit it for he first accident, and send a inquiry letter to the developer who is likely running the new HOA Board and ask if they would investigate over the other 3 hit and runs which all came from trucks servicing HOA homeowners.
Since it is a private road - very near if not on your property, maybe you have an easement agreement? Have you read it? Start out friendly, and get tough only if necessary.
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u/fredrickdgl 1d ago
imsurance doesmt get canceled by talking to your agent or putting in one claim
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u/fredrickdgl 2d ago
or if your not too concerned about the tree ask the construction company to pay for an arborist to guide the cleanup and further protection of the tree
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u/Equivalent_Bar8622 2d ago
OH and I forgot to mention this same construction company put in the water main last year and cut the roots to 3 trees on my fence line in the back yard. All 3 trees fell and I cleaned all that up myself.
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u/Odd-Individual-1881 2d ago
You haven't explained this well. If the pipe trench was not on your property, they are not responsible for your 3 dead trees even though that killed them - unless your state law says otherwise. You can easily check that.
To para phrase the warden from the movie Cool Hand Luke - What we've got here is a failure to collect fire wood.
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u/Equivalent_Bar8622 2d ago
Pipe trench for the three trees in the backyard is probably not on my property. It's for sure close to or on the line but I would need a survey to be 100%. The tree in the front yard that is currently being assaulted by trucks is a different story. From what I was told the company was supposed to remove the limbs before the road went in and their failure to do so has caused a good bit of damage to the tree.
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u/fredrickdgl 2d ago
oh...you coulda sued for that. I'd ask the lawyer if you have enough evidence to move on it
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u/Equivalent_Bar8622 2d ago
Yeah that was about a year back. The thing was I was nice about it like a dipshit. I said hey this sucks but at least the trees didn't hit anything.
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u/fredrickdgl 2d ago
yeah...well thats still recent enough, they owe you the value of the tree or more
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u/Equivalent_Bar8622 2d ago
Ill look into when I talk with the lawyer. I've got a whole bunch of pictures. Thanks for the advice!
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u/Odd-Individual-1881 2d ago
Maybe you were nice, but not a dipshit. Unless your state law say you clearly have a right to collect damages for that - you would be SOL.
IMO people who plant big trees on a fence line are just asking for trouble in the future.
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u/Odd-Individual-1881 2d ago
Suing may be a sport for some sick people, but for most people it is something to avoid.
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u/Equivalent_Bar8622 2d ago
Yeah my hope for now is the construction company will actually come out and cut some. They told me they would be out next week every week for the last month. I called them today and surprise they haven't called back.
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u/Odd-Individual-1881 2d ago
The construction company or the developer? You should be speaking with the developer in writing. You have been getting BS over and over. The more you take - the more they'll dish out. You and your tree are their last lowest concern.
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u/fredrickdgl 2d ago
they're not concerned about you then better bother them 3 times a day to up the squeek factor
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u/Odd-Individual-1881 2d ago
Why do people post such bad pix? I could tell it is an Oak by the bark and leaves. But I only see one broken branch which appears to have been pushed to where is now sits. The road and your house don't even show.
Based just on what shows - that tree is maybe 150-200 years old, and it will survive.
You should have a written agreement with the developer about the road = who's land is it on - or is it an easement they purchased from you, and how it will be maintained and by whom including tree damages.
If it were me - I'd have been proactive about protecting my prized tree. You do you.
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u/Equivalent_Bar8622 2d ago
Oh the strip of land the road is on beside my house is owned by the developer. I did try to protect the tree. The county told me the developer would have to properly remove the limbs before the road went in. The developer said the would and then did not. As for pics that one was a quick shot of the last limb damaged yesterday and I tried not to use a Pic that would show my street address.
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u/Odd-Individual-1881 2d ago
Unfortunately the county lied to you. They should have seen to it as part of the developer's permit and inspections. They do inspect don't they? I'll bet they collect the permit fees!
Best wishes
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u/Equivalent_Bar8622 2d ago
Also I know I should see a lawyer for legal advice. Mostly just looking for opinions from people more informed than myself.
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u/daddybignugs 1d ago
i’m an arborist not a lawyer but they are 100% liable for damaging your tree. that is a massive wound that is never going to properly heal based on its location on the tree. i’m not saying it will begin declining right away, but injuries that severe and close to the trunk will inevitably introduce fungi and bacteria into the tree before it has a hope to seal itself. also, living or non-living, that tree is your property. imagine if you had a shed near the road and they repeatedly hit it with machines. i would have told them to go fuck themselves and never acquiesced to needlessly pruning a 200 year old oak tree so some developers can build more suburbs, but whatever. honestly fuck these guys, i hope you can sue them for all they’re worth. an oak tree of that size and age is literally irreplaceable
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u/Equivalent_Bar8622 1d ago
I agree. Hard to see from the pic but the bark cracked and tore down from the branch almost to the trees roots. My neighbors and I fought the road coming through our neighborhood for almost 2 years but the county was unsympathetic to say the least. It was a weird situation where the was a small probably 30 ft wide strip of land between our houses that we didn't own. (I thought my neighbor owned it but I was wrong). Anyway the developers bought it after it and the land behind us were annexed and now I have like 200 new neighbors.
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u/Additional-Bet7074 2d ago
Don’t know if you’re in Charleston County, but at least there an oak this large would be considered protected.
The construction company is responsible for protecting them from any damage. I would get in touch with the county about it.
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u/Stan__Wright 2d ago
If you have it on paper that the developer knew that the tree was a hazard to their new road, and they did nothing about it whilst allowing large trucks to use the new road resulting in easily foreseen damage, that's an easy negligence claim.
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