Tree falls across property line, who's responsible for any damage?

[2QUIK6]

So you don't show any favoritism to your fellow TB nut
Let's say Owner A has a tree that sits within a foot of the property line but leans directly over the property line onto Owner B's property.
During a high wind storm, said tree twists off about 10 feet above the ground and falls on Owner B's property taking out the power line going to Owner B's property and ripping off the service post and meter box on Owner B's house.
Tree was healthy, not dead or dying. It's a clear cut case if tree was dead and not tended to by Owner A.
*
Who is responsible for the damage?
Please indicate if you have been in this situation before or if this is simply how you feel about it. Obviously Owner A and B don't agree so it's 50/50 already or I wouldn't be posting this
I'll reveal all the details after we see what the majority responses are.

Thanks

 

[bogies87]

Been here done this..... If the tree is on owner A's property and mother nature blows her over..... its still owner A's responsibilitiy. At least that is how it works where I live. Good luck

 

[bad V6]

Owner A

 

[The_Six]

Not here in TN one of the guys I work with 3 weeks ago lost 2 cars a truck and the back side of his house do to a Hemlock tree on the neighbors property falling. This is from his insurance company since it was an act of nature and the tree was healthy no rot no sign of neglect it was taken out by a tornado it is a no fault situation and his own insurance covered the damage and clean up owner of the tree was only responsible for what was in his own yard.

 

[Crhen]

Owner "b" happened to me several yrs ago. Neighbors tree fell on my house during a windstorm. My insurance paid for fix

 

[Chuck Leeper]

Same here..

Owner "b" happened to me several yrs ago. Neighbors tree fell on my house during a windstorm. My insurance paid for fix

Dead tree fell on my house. My ins co paid for it,[in order to get the roof repaired B4 water damage increased], and collected the cost from the other home owners ins.

 

[Bob Smith]

B

 

[Tom Tom Turbo]

Not here in TN one of the guys I work with 3 weeks ago lost 2 cars a truck and the back side of his house do to a Hemlock tree on the neighbors property falling. This is from his insurance company since it was an act of nature and the tree was healthy no rot no sign of neglect it was taken out by a tornado it is a no fault situation and his own insurance covered the damage and clean up owner of the tree was only responsible for what was in his own yard.

Being in the insurance field, this is the best answer yet. If the tree is healthy and wind takes it down, it's not your fault. The property owner's insurance should pay for his own damage and the tree owner's insurance should pay for the removal of the tree.

 

[getchasum]

Owner B is.

Now if owner B had warned owner A of a concern with the tree then owner A is responsible

 

[Brad Conley]

Yep, owner B will pay for his own damages. Only time A would pay is if there is negligence on A's part, ie: A damaged or diseased tree that should have been removed and was obvious to a casual observer. Like Tom Tom Turbo, 30 years of insurance has taught me that much anyway.

 

[2QUIK6]

Thanks for the replies.
Here's the details.
I am Owner A in this situation for a rental property we own, and there's more to the story.
My insurance said they would not pay, that it was an act of God and the tree was healthy, have recent pictures to prove this.
Owner B's insurance agreed with mine and said basically the same thing and they covered the cost but he has a $1000 deductible.
I told Owner B, it didn't look like that much damage, call me when he gets an estimate and maybe we'll work something out just to be neighborly. He was going to have to pull a permit though because the electric company removed the meter.
Owner B gets permit, turns out his entire electrical was not up to code.
He ended up having to get an entire new breaker box, and running conduit for all of the 220v electrical. The receiver post from the meter did not go through the roof per code, hence the reason the post and meter were torn off in the first place.
He tells me it cost $4500 to "repair" when in fact most of the cost was bringing his electrical up to code.
He wants me to pay half of his deductible at this point and is now threatening to sue or put a labor lean on my house saying it cost him $1200 to chop the tree up when I have 4 witnesses that said it took his maintenance man less then 2 hours to chop it up, and he chopped it up before I was even notified the tree had fallen and all of it was on his own property, he removed nothing from my property. It was 3 days later before I was even notified of issue. Tree was about 20 ft high and about 10inches in diameter.

I have talked to 2 attorneys at this point, both said, "If tree was dead you owe, if tree was healthy, then he can go jump in the lake."

So it appears that this may vary by State.

Thanks again

 

[TexasT]

Thanks for the replies.
Here's the details.
I am Owner A in this situation for a rental property we own, and there's more to the story.
My insurance said they would not pay, that it was an act of God and the tree was healthy, have recent pictures to prove this.
Owner B's insurance agreed with mine and said basically the same thing and they covered the cost but he has a $1000 deductible.
I told Owner B, it didn't look like that much damage, call me when he gets an estimate and maybe we'll work something out just to be neighborly. He was going to have to pull a permit though because the electric company removed the meter.
Owner B gets permit, turns out his entire electrical was not up to code.
He ended up having to get an entire new breaker box, and running conduit for all of the 220v electrical. The receiver post from the meter did not go through the roof per code, hence the reason the post and meter were torn off in the first place.
He tells me it cost $4500 to "repair" when in fact most of the cost was bringing his electrical up to code.
He wants me to pay half of his deductible at this point and is now threatening to sue or put a labor lean on my house saying it cost him $1200 to chop the tree up when I have 4 witnesses that said it took his maintenance man less then 2 hours to chop it up, and he chopped it up before I was even notified the tree had fallen and all of it was on his own property, he removed nothing from my property. It was 3 days later before I was even notified of issue. Tree was about 20 ft high and about 10inches in diameter.

I have talked to 2 attorneys at this point, both said, "If tree was dead you owe, if tree was healthy, then he can go jump in the lake."

So it appears that this may vary by State.

Thanks again

Being neighborly is one thing, this guy is trying to fleece you. I think he would get to pound sand. And the jump in the lake thing works too, don't you live out by Lake Worth?

 

[Nasty Wendy]

Dead tree fell on my house. My ins co paid for it,[in order to get the roof repaired B4 water damage increased], and collected the cost from the other home owners ins.

Owner B is.

Now if owner B had warned owner A of a concern with the tree then owner A is responsible

These replies pretty much sums it up. When my insurance company came out to see my house before the policy was written they instructed me to have my neighbor's trees cut because they were a threat to my property (branches overhanging my roof line). They said if he refuses then they would call his insurance company and notify them that if I incurred any damages from his trees that his insurance company would be liable for the damages. My insurance company told me that they would actually pay the claim but my neighbors insurance company would have to reimburse them. They said that my neighbors insurance company would have to be notified of the threat before a claim could be made. My neighbor reluctantly agreed to have his trees' branches cut to eliminate the threat.

In your case one neighbors tree has grown over the property line so I'd say that if the owner of the tree doesn't cut it back/down then the tree owner's insurance would be liable if they were notified before the claim was made.


Yeah you are right. It very well may vary by state.

 

[injdinjn]

If a neighbors tree branches reach over the property line you cut them to the property line.

 

[2QUIK6]

Yep, anything that is crossing the property line can be cut without asking permission basically.

I probably did this guy a favor by him having to get his electrical up to date..its a rental property to him as well and if he had a fire due to electrical he could have been liable for someones death!

Found Texas law states that is a healthy tree falls due to environment / high wind, then the owner is not responsible. Property where tree lands is responsible for all damage on their property and removel of tree in their yard only. So he cannot put a labor lein on our property for his maint guy chopping the tree up in his own yard.

 

[2QUIK6]

Talked to him today, it did not go well at all. Told him I pulled his permit and code inspection report and found out all of the illegal and non-code compliant electrical that he had to update and wanted me to foot half of what he had to pay that his insurance deductible was. He told me before all of this had to be "reworked" but failed to tell me it was not code compliant. So he asks what I thought the meter box reinstall would cost and I told him it couldn't be more than $150-200..so he wanted me to pay that, basically wanted me to pay anything that I would. I told him I would have glady paid that, but not $500 but since he tried to screw me over with the full bill and threatened to sue on the voice mail he could go screw himself now. He says he will file a lien, don't know how he can do that when the law says he is responsible for the tree removal on his own property. Told him I would counter sue if he lost for all my lost billable time with my clients fooling around with his frivolous claims and that would for sure be way more than what he is asking for. Didn't tell him I had 4 witnesses now that have verified what he did with the tree and it wasn't $1260 worth of labor he claims

 

[Tony87gn]

This recently happened to me. Neighbors tree fell during a storm and destroyed my shed, deck and grill. Insurance reimbursed for all of it though.

I also bought a snow blower on craigslist for 40 bucks and beat it up a little bit saying it was in the shed, insurance gave 200 bucks for it.

 

[S2V6RACER]

If the dude did work on his property, he does not have a right to file a labor lien against your property. He did no improvements to it. When or if he files it send him a registered letter asking him to remove his lien or you will file a slander of title suit against him. At least that's how it works in MI.

 

[CST 03]

This recently happened to me. Neighbors tree fell during a storm and destroyed my shed, deck and grill. Insurance reimbursed for all of it though.

I also bought a snow blower on craigslist for 40 bucks and beat it up a little bit saying it was in the shed, insurance gave 200 bucks for it.

Insurance fraud aye??Real smart!!

 

[Brad Conley]

Insurance fraud aye??Real smart!!

Yea, and he just admitted to it on a national BBS. And people wonder why insurance costs so much and some companies fight them on their claims...