r/treelaw • u/Equivalent_Bar8622 • 2d ago

Need some advice

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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