This creep hired an entire crew of people to cut down his neighbors trees. They knew it was trespassing because they had to climb over a fence to do it. The creep is probably rich, and local people said he probably thought he would have to pay a $32,000 fine and was OK with that. However, the replacement cost is estimated at 1.5 million. Hope it bankrupts him. And yeah, the contracted crew should be on the hook for damages too.
That would sort of depend upon whether the contracted crew was acting in good faith. If a person hires a company to clear a piece of property and they assure the company that they own the property or have permission to remove the trees, I doubt most contractors would look up ownership records. If the person who hired them deceived the contractor, I would say the person who lied bears the responsibility.
@@itsapittie Not at all. Having to climb over a fence doesn't "pass the sniff test" of what a reasonable person would think on finding that. They're on the hook deep too and they deserve it.
In most cities/townships, cutting down trees requires a permit. The contractor knows that. Ignorance is not a defense for a contractor. Their license requires that that follow the local laws. Therefore, I would include the contractor in the legal action.
I hope he sues and gets the full $1.5M! Cutting down 32 trees one someone's land totally ruins the land. I can only imagine how much a wooded lot in NJ would be worth.
You gotta elaborate dude, this is wildly interesting… Was it a fine from the town/city or did you sue? My knowledge on the law surrounding this is limited.
@@cygnus_XI This was nearly 30 years ago so I may get some of the details wrong. St Charles/Carrolton Aves in New Orleans are lined with beautiful centuries old oak trees that hang over the street. It's part of the character of the city. The city maintained the limbs that hung over the streets to maintain a minimum clearance for trucks. My new neighbor wanted to park his massive RV next to his home but was blocked by a limb of my tree. The first time I met him he was ordering me to cut down my tree. I refused because it was protected by city ordinance. And also the area he wanted to park the behemoth was mostly my property. He had a lawyer contact me. I told him what I'm telling you. Then another lawyer. And if I recall another. Then one day when I returned from a business trip my tree was missing and his RV was parked on my property. He even had the audacity to sell the wood for a profit. Called the police. Called my lawyer. Filed a civil lawsuit. He actually tried to fight it. Fortunately for me he didn't didn't list that home as his primary residence so we were able to force it's sale to recoup damages. I don't recall him being arrested. But I do recall a fine of some sort. Every time I go to NO and pass my old house That big empty spot looks so out of place. I had the largest oak tree they could replant in it's place. Even after almost 30 years it doesn't compare to the centuries old oak it replaced.
Not sure the value where you are, but about 15 yrs ago I was tasked with possibly buying a log for a customer's display. I priced out a white pine log, 12' long by 20" in diameter (not including delivery) at $2500.00. So I can assume the value of your tree was much greater than that! (by 1000x).
Local news interviewed the victim. He said his neighbor comes off as very arrogant, a guy who believes he can do anything he wants to do and get away with it.
Yup it's expensive to replace the trees and maintain them and even after that they won't be mature for several decades. It's basically irreplaceable damage in 1 person's lifetime, the damages should be a minimum of $1.5. Hell for NJ having a wooded lot might be worth even more than that.
Where I live the standard judgement for cutting a neighbor's trees is 25,000 per tree. It's been like that for 40 years. Treble damages would make that huge.
The fines and costs to replace trees illegally removed generally go up, the older the trees are. If the tree is older than the country itself, those numbers go up a lot more.
Many years ago my family owned a 40-acre farm in Michigan. The Eastern boundary was wooded and ended at a steep decline into a river bottom. The neighbor on the east side hired a local tree cutter to have some trees removed. There were some issues, A, he hired a guy who went to school with my dad and they were close. He knew the trees were on my dad's property and called to ask if he really wanted those trees cut. Dad said no, those trees held up the steep decline, they were essential erosion control. Problem avoided. Ten years later, that same neighbor hired an out-of-town tree crew to take out those exact same trees. Dad and I were on his roof making a repair when we noticed trees falling on the east 40. We caught them in the act and called the sheriff. The tree crew asked my dad what he could do to make him whole. Dad said to put the trees back up! What a mess.
We had the same thing happen here in NW CT. Rich out of state people moved from the big city to the country during the pandemic. The wealthy people waited until their neighbors left for vacation and had a crew come in an clear cut over an acre of trees so they could have a nicer view. The rich people didn’t think it was a big deal until the amount awarded to the land owner was over 1 million. Mature trees are not cheap. The rich people appealed the decision but lost. They claimed bankruptcy and moved out.
None, turns out this guy just unilaterally did it because the trees were blocking his view of Manhattan. There wasn't even some mitigation by thinking erroneously that they were on his property, reading a NY Post article which said: "The tree cutters had climbed a fence clearly marking his property line"
Reminds me of the case 20 years ago in Seattle where a judge on the US circuit court of appeals had his gardener cut down 120 prized big-leaf maple and cherry trees in a public park that stood between his property and Lake Washington. Judge Farris ended up paying the city of Seattle more than $600,000 for cutting trees in Colman Park. Anyone surprised that a federal judge would feel that they were entitled to do something like that?
My family owns a large property in central Oklahoma, most of which is thickly wooded. Until recently, it was rarely visited due to all of us living in other states. A few years ago when checking on the property, I found that a good 20 or so small trees had been cut down near one of the ponds. I started looking around and found a game camera. Apparently someone had cut the trees to give the camera a clear view of the pond, probably so they could see when the deer came to water. To add insult to injury, the poacher didn't even harvest the wood. He just threw the saplings to the sides of the cleared path. It might have been possible to find out who the camera belonged to but I probably could not have proven the camera owner cut the trees. I shot the camera with a high-powered rifle and it was very gratifying to see it explode into bits. Whoever placed the camera apparently got the message because I haven't found one since.
Unless the bullet actually hit the SD card the perp might still be able to retrieve the images. Images have been retrieved from cameras after the cards had been in water for years.
In 1964 we had an old bur oak stolen well attempted to steal for lumber off what was my grandparents farm between Albion and Marshall MI now my farm. The bur oak was 620 inches in circumference and 198 inches in diameter the sheriff was called as my grandfather held the timber thief and my mother took 2 rolls pictures. My grandparents got $50,000 for that tree and the thieves didn't even get to take any of the tree they fell for lumber.
My brother got the job as caretaker of a tree farm as a teen. He had a large number of people arrested for chopping down trees on the property. Hard to hide chainsaw and ax noise from on-site security.
A man here in California lived in a very expensive designer community with beautiful landscaping. For some reason he hated the large "oak" tree in his own front yard (not sure of the exact type of oak, all I remember is that it was about 15'-20' tall and dropped a lot of leaves every year in autumn). Because the HOA (still controlled by the developer since there were new homes yet to be sold) would not let him cut it down (every home had a similar tree so a missing tree would have disrupted the carefully planned look of the community) he decided to quietly poison the tree so it would seem to die of "natural causes". What he did not understand is that trees of the same kind tend to share (merge) roots to extend their ability to find water. When he poisoned his own tree he also poisoned every tree on the block (fortunately the roots did not extend under the streets or else it could have been the entire community) and killed a total of 18 trees. The whole thing was settled out of court. He was required to (A) remove all the dead trees, (B) treat & detoxify the soil where the trees had been, (C) locate, transport, and plant replacement trees (and sod) of the same type and similar age/size. This ended up costing him more than $200,000. By agreeing to pay the costs without contest he avoided being charged with multiple counts of felony vandalism which could have resulted in jail time of 3-24 years plus additional penalties. He sold his home (less than 5 years of equity so no profit really) and moved away never to be heard from again.
That's what you get when you don't adhere to HOA rules. Sometimes HOA's are HUA, sometimes not..but it's best to obey the rules when you've signed their agreements.
@@adotintheshark4848 In this case I agree he would have been so much better off if he had followed the rules and left the tree alone. Unfortunately there are MANY MANY MANY stories of HOA's who have arbitrary rules that change without notice and created by egocentric people with personal agendas. It's hard to follow the rules when they change daily, or worse when they are being weaponized against you personally because some board member has a bee in their bonnet. The court records are full of cases where HOA's went waaaaay too far abusing their power.
I am so glad I live in an area where you still have the freedom. I can do whatever I want in my yard. If I want to chop down every tree I can. I hear about people who live in HOA and it blows my mind. I grew up in rural Tennessee. I have lived in several states in my 45 years. They were really nice, but I am so glad to be back home. I live in a small community that doesn't even have police. They rarely if ever have to come out here. Used to not even have to lock your doors, but those days are gone. At least the handful of druggies don't stay out of jail very long. They go right back as soon as they get out. Hell, even they are nice people, but just can't change their ways.
He also topped other trees, not fully cutting them down. That pretty much speaks to intent if you ask me. He wanted the view. Speaking to the "flags", they had to scale a fence and there were "no trespassing" signs on the guys property, including one on a tree that was felled.
If that really is the case everyone who cut the trees down and the neighbor should all have been arrested for criminal trespassing and destruction of property as well. Did the guy who wanted the trees down claim to be the property owner?
South east Pennsylvania. I was out of town for five weeks. When I returned, a contractor for a land development company was dumping stumps and dirt on my property to support the road for the development. I had to pay for a property survey since the corner marker stakes had been removed. The pile was about 34 feet high, 74 feet over the property line for a distance of 220 feet. Many 12" and larger white oak trees removed or buried in the fill. All guilty parties agreed of the encroachment, but refused to remove the debris. I sued. I went through three law firms, 10+ attorneys, professional witnesses and surveyor. AND depositions, court appearances, major expense,10 years of my life until I was made an offer to pay my bills and accept as is claiming too much to correct. Law enforcement not interested, civil issue. City that approved the drawings, worthless engineer. Why so long and not corrected. Engineer who designed the development was married to a local judge. No one in the county would represent me except to take my $$$$$. So much for honesty and integrity.
Southwest Pennsylvania here. Got a friend who was held responsible for being struck by a speeder while stopped at a stop sign because the speeder was a judge's son. Cop spoke to the speeder and that was that. Myself I had to deal with a judge who we're pretty sure was taking bribes to try and find any way to keep a fraudulent lawsuit against us going. Guy was so corrupt on so many level he actually got removed and bared from ever being a judge again which I don't have to tell you for PA really is saying something about just how bad he was. They pulled a judge out of retirement to finish our case and he dismissed it with prejudice in exactly as long as it took him to read the transcripts. Oh and the local DA is currently in trouble for using his office to retaliate against the guy who was investigating him...for using his office to retaliate against people... I hate to say it about my own home but honesty and integrity simply shouldn't be excepted out of the legal system that gave the world the Cash for Kids scandal.
My uncle had a neighbor that was upset because a tree in my uncle’s yard was shedding leaves and falling in his swimming pool. The tree was a tall maple with one branch extending over the fence line. My uncle returned home one day to find his tree cut down. The neighbor had to replace the tree and pay extra for wood for my uncle’s fireplace.
@@Betharoot I'm assuming you can read, and someone else didn't read the post you replied to on your behalf. His neighbour cut the "TREE" down, not branch.
This couldn't have come at a better time for me. Just two months ago I sent a letter to my neighbor who cut down my trees (with my survey dots painted on them) and pulled up my survey pins with a tractor. I asked him how he plans to rectify the situation. I own a large property so it's not like I am on all parts of it all the time. I didn't realize any of this was happening until I heard the neighbor's tractor and happened to be nearby on one of my trails at that time. I physically saw him pull one of the survey pins. My property has been surveyed 3 times to my knowledge without any boundary disputes. I've owned it about 11 years. I called the former owner of my property who told me the neighbor pulled the same stunt with him by pulling survey pins (don't know if any trees were involved at that time). I will be anxious to hear the outcome of this case.
@@kenneth9874 I probably will have to because I had the property lines re-surveyed and marked and he ignored my request to pay that bill. This particular neighbor has had confrontations with 2 other adjoining neighbors, too. The problem I've had with suing is you can't get money from turnips. I looked at the deed to the neighbor's property and his mother and uncle actually own the property. He just lives in a shed on the property. He appears to be an able bodied 40 to 50 year old guy who in my opinion is just a mooch. He has a tractor, but most likely leased. I've won cases over the years with many people, but if they are worthless, there's no justice for me because there's nothing to collect.
@@kenneth9874 Good question. I've really not researched. I've seen him pull a survey pin with his tractor but didn't actually see him cut the trees, but given that he was there, I'm guessing he cut the trees. Would trespass be criminal? The lines were clearly marked with yellow painted survey dots on the trees. I also had 'no trespass' signs up, but in my area the bears often pull the signs down. I do an annual sign update around the property (it takes two days of hiking each year to do this due to terrain and size so it's not an activity that you can "forget" or be distracted from. I know signs went up because those days were set aside for that task). Even if the bears took the signs, there are usually sign scraps around and yellow painted dots should be a clue to him where the line is. Not to mention intentionally pulling a survey pin should clue someone in to where the line is. I was trying to be reasonable requesting my out of pocket costs be reimbursed, but the guy apparently wants to be a jerk.
I once owned some undeveloped land in Alabama that was heavily wooded, with old growth oak, black walnut, etc. I constantly got letters from timber companies, offering me pennies on the dollar or even less, to come clear cut the property. Even had one send a letter thanking me for my permission to come cut, hoping I wouldn't catch on, I guess. I had to talk to the neighbor to keep an eye on the place, (and gave him permission for hunting and gathering as encouragement) to keep someone from coming and stealing the trees, as that is a common problem in that particular area. Old growth especially is worth a lot of money, and once it's gone, no replacement tree is going to be worth as much in our lifetimes!
I feel kind of bad that my mom sold such land in Ohio to Amish who I know planned to cut the trees down. We gave the neighbors ample opportunity to buy the land, but my mom needed the money and the land was just an expense.
Ugh. I have a Japanese maple I bought after my dad died 15 years ago. It was tiny when I bought it, so for the first couple years it was in a pot on my porch, to prevent someone from stealing it. The nursery recommended I do that. Now the tree is planted in my fairy garden, but still in a pot, the pots bottom is just cut out. So last year, someone tried to steal it, but apparently didn’t realize the roots have long been set, so they cut off every branch on it. I cried for days. I’ve been shaping that tree for 15 years and I planted it as a memorial to my dad.
My husband and I get so angry, about the entitlement, that some have to just cut down such old living tree's even if the land owner cuts them it is wrong on all accounts ..a couple of hundred years old...for fire wood, we can do better!. No we are not tree huggers🤣
@@kellidinit3725 Oh, honey I am just so sorry! I had to have a beloved tree cut down, before it blew down in a storm. I cried buckets. Your grief is so much worse. Very sad for you.
As a former certified arborist yes the Civil damages can be huge. We measure the trees at 4ft above ground and take the diameter of the tree. That is calculated to come up with the value of the tree.
could the owner not also sue for replacement? I mean literally re-placement as in restoring the original state "no matter what it costs". That offcourse could get insane quickly as large trees have deep roots, so if the tree cutter is unlucky, a storm knocks down the trees, but would not have knocked down the original trees...
@@sarowie Trees can only be translated to a certain size, if a tree is too big, it wouldn't survive the transplanting, even if they could figure out how to do it physically. Typically replacement involves planting a bunch more smaller trees, plus fines on top.
One of our friends had a neighbor who cut down several trees on our friend's property 'accidentally' although there was already some conflict with the neighbor not liking the trees. As it turns out in Oregon even accidentally cutting down trees that are not yours are triple damages and the neighbor got slammed with a huge damage settlement. I assume because in a logging state there was a whole lot of 'accidental' tree cutting going on.
Yup that makes sense, if logging is big business there's a lot of reason to protect the trees. Cattle rustling is still on the books as punishable by hanging in Texas lol.
In Texas it’s triple damages. 3 times the value of the tree. I was on a Grand Jury and a guy wouldn’t pay, so we indicted him for felony theft. I bet he paid up after that to avoid prison. I bet he still got a record and probation and still had to pay for the trees.
easier to farm animals than trees since animals used for meat or egg farming grow much faster a lot of fruit or trees used for wood need 5-10+ years so pretty slow so some idiot cutting them down wastes years of investment plus could have used the land for something else that would have made money every year instead of waiting for money years later as an investment
I had a neighbor who contacted someone to put a road through our property which is a forest , we have lots of trees. We heard the first tree go and went back there and this gal said she did not hire them. They stood there with there mouth open. They were not happy and apologized.
I did work for a huge paper company. We had a special tree planting machine that would dig up trees so huge that only one would fit on a extended transfer truck. But we would sell old growth trees (pine) to people that cut their neighbors trees. But a huge tree would cost over $40,000 before moving. That was 20 years ago.
I know one rigging company that also moves trees. The owner has a yard full of palm trees, most of them protected species locally, that he was paid to move, but where there was no place to move them to. So to his yard, and planted there, and you can pay again when you find where it will go. $50k for a small tree is not an unreasonable amount, especially if for some he had to hire in a heavy lift helicopter, to move the tree 500m, to where a truck big enough could carry it on the road.
40k for a large tree sounds fair. But offcourse: before moving, replanting, taking care of the tree in the new place, potentially having to replace it when the tree does not survive for some reason... add all that, then multiplied by 32 trees and yeah: Lumber is cheap, Trees are expensive.
In Australia a few years ago a developer pulled the same stunt. He cut down dozens of trees so the homes he was going to build would have a better view and he could charge more. The court's decision? (you will love this) They required the government to put up signs all along the site blocking all views from the future homes. The signs said that the developer (name used) had cut down all the trees in a bid to make more money by getting a better view. He was found guilty and the signs must remain in place until the trees that he had to replace are grown to the height they would have been if he had not cut them down. You have to love Australian justice! BTW the signs are still there and the developer had to sell the property at a loss because no one wanted to live facing the signs.
That was just the tip of the iceberg. The land owner stopped them well before they were finished. Apparently he asked them nicely to quit cutting, but they said something to the effect that his neighbor next door had paid them a lot of money to cut the trees. The owner had to call the cops in to stop them.
The trees can also be recovered for loss of value to the property. The most I have heard accessed for one mature tree was $100,000 and that was subject to triple damages! The offending person was forced to sale their house and for bankruptcy. In Louisiana, the logging company is also held liable, because they are independently responsible for confirming land ownership and authority.
I just saw a Seattle tv station story where a guy and some of his neighbors cut down a bunch of trees to get a better view of the Seattle skyline. The trees were on city land, and the vandals were ultimately fined a total of $440,000!
Wow, this brought a memory back. My parents bought a small parcel of land in SE Texas to retire on, which they did. There was a tax advantage in listing it as a "tree farm", and they did from time to time sell a few pine trees to nearby loggers to deliver to a sawmill (or actually, usually a paper mill) to keep up the tax "dodge". Not a big deal, all legal, and they are both long since passed, so try to catch them on that! Hah! But the reason this made me comment is that there was an elderly woman who bought a similar parcel near theirs. Turned out she was terminally ill, and just wanted to spend her last times in nature. When she passed away, my father actually contacted the county, seeking to buy the land from her heirs if they were willing. He was stalled by the county clerk, and about two months later, every tree on that parcel was "harvested" (meaning stolen) by someone, that apparently was the county commissioner himself. Everyone involved has long since shed this mortal coil, but it has led to my general distrust of government at all levels. My father was interested enough to finally get in touch with the executor of the estate, and indeed, that woman never gave up her timber rights to the land, nor did any of her heirs. But it went from (bear in mind, this is 40 years ago) $2000/acre to about $300/acre because of the loss of the tree harvest.
A friend of mine in NC told me that the government was actually paying him to not cut down the trees on his property. I never ask how much and don't know about his taxes related to that, but it was interesting twist.
@@johnshaw6702 It still amazes me that the Govt. pays a lot of money to many farmers to not farm their land. Because of erosion. Really? But I can see keeping the trees.
I traveled to CA last week to check on two properties I own there. I discovered that PG&E (AKA PUD or Public Utility District) had been on my property and cut down approximately 30 trees, many large, old trees over 100 years old and over 100 feet tall. PG&E sent out a response crew to examine the site. Unfortunately, their maps were off, and they thought the trees were on my neighbor's property. They gave my neighbor a release form giving them permission to remove the trees. I was never asked or informed, due to their electronic maps being off (a lot!). So now my journey to justice begins. Hours of taking pictures, scanning documents, writing explanations, all so they can deny my claim, so I can then go out and hire an attorney and spend thousands of dollars and months (or years) proving that they illegally trespassed on my property and illegally cut down huge old trees.
Years ago a guy in Maryland realized he'd have a nice view of the Potomac if he removed all of the trees between the road and the river. He hired a crew, then each day he's check on their progress, bringing them refreshments. Then he deducted the cost of the refreshments from his final payment. The amount wasn't huge, but the contractor was so incensed he filed a lawsuit. A local DC TV station heard about the suit. They looked into it and learned not only were the trees not on his property, they were on Federal land. Talk about chutzpah!
My parents had 3 lilac bushes that had been planted 50 years prior cut down by the neighbor. The sheriff refused to even interview the neighbor. Mysteriously when he went on vacation his two poplar trees that my parents helped plant years before "fell" down.
Had this happen in Seattle. 'Someone' cut down trees in the park down slope from a guy's McMansion which is the only property that 'benefited' from the removal of the trees. I can't prove it but we all know who had the trees removed.
Four years ago, I purchased 100 acres of newly logged (and very rugged) land. I can say with confidence based on post logging surveys that the logging process and vehicles used were precise within a couple of feet. Not sure when the preserve "mistake" was made, but modern GPS systems, assuming they were used and properly configured, would have alerted the loggers. That said, the mess made by logging was ridiculous and exceedingly ugly. Having received the exact logging financials prior to closing, the irony is that I would have paid more to the person selling me the land to keep it natural than what they netted for logging it.
Figure a ballpark of $1000/year, and some tree ages are measured in centuries. Oh, and treble damages - and that’s assuming you don’t manage to chop down the tree marking where the judge’s friend’s ashes were spread 32 trees? That STARTS in the millions, and assumes you don’t do anything to annoy city laws like cause water-shed problems or pollute city water supplies.
I've watched your videos for years, but this one really hit home. I live in Michigan also, and I am supposed to have the tallest tulip tree in the state in my front yard. Learned a lot about Michigan tree laws in this video, that I never knew. Thanks for the info, and all you do!
Saw this on NY The Post’s website and frankly the before and after pics are shocking. Post cutting, it looks terrible. Also to replant the trees will require the building of a temporary roadway, estimated at $1.5 million. The cutters had to climb over an intact chainlink fence to cut them down. Some of the trees were over 100 years old.
Planted a small grove of 20 fruit trees. Worked for years to grow them. Went out on the weekends to check, fertilize and fill watering tanks. One weekend found most of them gone. Someone used a tree spade to steal them. Never found out who but if we would have could have cost thousands per tree if we would have figured it out.
@@i_am_bisexual_or_something3132 This was decades ago and I stopped that property development since. Years spent trying to develop and improve it but got tired of fighting with everything from dumping trash to a meth lab. Eventually got permits to install fencing and gates but people stole that too.
I know of two people here in Colorado that are fighting this , one lady had so 300 trees cut down on her land and the DA refused to charge the person that did it because of who the person it, that’s in Clear Creek county! A friend of mine come home from vacation and their neighbor had cut 40 plus trees down in she back yard! That was in El Paso county, she can’t get any charges filed either! No justice in either case! The lady from Clear Creek county has well documented her efforts to get justice on social media!
In this situation, the contractor knew he was trespassing. It has been reported that the victim homeowner ordered the contractor off his property and the contractor said, effectively, "no, the guy next door paid me a lot of money to do this."
I am not particularly interested in firearms, but this could be the exception fo possessing one... Amd that tree contractorcould be sued into bankruptcy. He knew what he was doing, did it for the money.
I would have told them either leave or i'm calling the cops. And if I thought I was in danger just going out their I probably would have looked like a pirate - armed to the hilt.
I had one friend who made a false ID so that he could drink earlier. When he applied for social security, he discovered that for many years, he was going by the wrong ID and he was younger than he thought
in the reddit commentor community, treelaw is a very popular subtopic. 80 year old oak? cut down? the person who did it now has to replace that tree. you can buy and plant an 80 year old tree. and suddenly, the value of replacing the tree can exceed the value of the property. one case was in UK, where 150 years ago, someone brought sequoia seeds to the UK and planted them on various places. a family cut down one of those on another property. the tree was invaluable, and they were special landmarks and specifially protected.
@2olvets443 that was the time of discovery and Darwin. They were well into experimentation and probably figured out how to plant those trees a couple years/decades before. Thats prob why the sequoias were brought over, either as an experiment or because it was cool at the time
@@Reno_Slim I think you may well be right. Some plants eg Proteas need fire to germinate in the wild but a commercial grower discovered bathing them in woodsmoke worked too, which is why Proteas are now available in bouquets of cut flowers (too expensive previously).
Last year the power company removed and replaced a power pole that had rotted. I walked out and chatted with them as they worked. The spot they chose to place the new pole was on nice flat ground at the top of the ditch (my property). Every so often they hire a tree company to trim along their power lines. Just so happened they had placed the pole 11' out of where it should have gone and thus the trimming company butchered my 30 year old white pine. I loved that tree. I had carried that tree in my arms from my old property and it stood as a significant focal point of my landscaping. Now it is in danger of falling over and ripping out my powerlines that come from the ROW to my house. It looks terrible and will never recover. The power crew never got a survey of where the property line ends and the road right of way begins. I realized the mistake when a small part of my property was emanate domained by the city for their use. The power company offered me $500 to give them an easement so they don't have to move poles. Turs out they actually screwed up the entire block and would have to move a lot of poles and locate them in the bottom of the ditch. There is 120' dedicated road right of way for such things. Giving them an easement devalues my land and restricts that much more ground for my use. They have offered to move the poles 2 feet someday and nothing has been said about my pine. It has been 3 months. The city has rules but doesn't enforce them. The state law protects property owners from anyone who tries to take away enjoyment of owner's property . The power company has a reputation of plopping poles where ever they please. After 7 years they will have a right to that land through adverse possession. They hinted that they could just do that. I think it is time somebody stands up to them and teaches them a lesson. Hoping for tree damages, fine for conducting business on residential private property, loss of my use for the year, and punitive damages for not surveying and making a habit out of taking land from customers. They are going to hate me . Ha ha.
Steve it should be noted that in some parts of New Jersey some towns require that you get permission to cut down trees even if they are on your own property. Tree absorb a LOT of water. It is not unusual in New Jersey to see "wetlands" develop. This can range from the ground becoming permanently soggy all the way to small but permanent ponds being formed. In areas where there are large numbers of single family detached homes, i.e. a development, this is a real issue. New Jersey is a state where people have literally drowned during heavy rainstorms while traveling on four and six lane highways (divided even). Kinnelon, NJ is a well off town. And yes it was for the view of NYC ~30 miles away.
My parents owned a wooded area on our farm in Wood County Ohio, someone came in and cut down 4 Black Walnut trees, this was in a field area where it blocked no ones view but where cut down to steal them for the value of the wood. These trees where actually considered stolen and where old ones and worth quite a bit, approximately easily 10000 dollars plus a tree because of the value of, at the time, Black Walnut. They only took a few off the field edge, but it was our field and our wood we camped in sometimes and would hunt on (mostly rabbits and squirrels but occasionally a deer). It also damaged part of our crops,(if I remember right it was corn that year, so they drove through the cornfield, damaging that, and each time took one of our largest Black Walnuts at the field edge, which when fell took out more crops. Unfortunately this was in the mid 80s and this was not a time trail camera had really come out yet so we camped in the woods for a few months, and tried to catch them. Also this woods was virgin woods, (never had anything cut down, but in a small area we did remove brush to have a little personal camping site for, us, freinds, and familiy if permission was asked. It was only 5 or 6 miles from our house, but for my parents, and a weekend getaway for the family, it was nice. Plus my childhood friends would come because the parents knew it was close and everyone had a great time. Note: my father did run a couple people off that he did not know, so not neighbors, but they where scouting the trees probably, and we did not have enough "proof" for anything to stick but the no trespassing signs. So did get them for trespassing.
@@mamaitaliano9774 I think the home in a trust can be defeated, as it can be claimed the placing of it in a trust, with the person in control of the trust, was a deliberate act to hide assets, and to evade the law.
This same situation happened to the previous owner of the land that my parents just purchased. There is a semi recent development above the land and it is extremely obvious the tress were cut just for the view and very old hardwoods lay there today. The trees were the main reason the previous owner bought the land and declined when approached by the developer before. He did a lot of business across the country and the large section was cut while he was on an extended trip. Apparently he was heartbroken about it but never pressed charges as he was described to us a pushover of sorts. My parents now own this section and are very cautious about the development. If that were to happen now it would be a bad time but it has had lasting effects on how the area looks as those trees were easily 100 years old.
In Maine, it is treble damages, and it is the cost to replace with a like tree. Cut down a 100 foot tree on someone else's property? Could cost you over a million. X for removal of the stump, Y for buying a new 100 foot tree, Z for digging up the new tree, AA for transporting the new tree including all permits and utility work required for the move, BB for planting the new tree, CC for an arborist to take care of the tree until it can survive on its own and DD for someone to manage the process. So, X+Y+Z+AA+BB+CC+DD all time 3. Saw 1 in Maine (but I do think it was 3 trees that were 30-40 feet tall) that ended at $1.4 million.
i was a police officer on bois blanc island in northern michigan 38 years ago. this exact same thing happened. a guys next door neighbor came over and cut down a big area of the complainants trees. many were at least 100 years old. he had no explanation why he did it.
Years ago a neighbor asked if he could have one of our trees trimmed so that he could have a view from his home. Since this tree gave us a sense of privacy, and he wanted us to pay half. That was an easy, no!
I can't imagine any amount of money that can compensate the loss of the trees but I certainly hope the property owner gets ALL of that money & then some!❤️🌲❤️ Have a great weekend everyone ❤️🇺🇸❤️
I love Copper Harbor, Michigan!! The first time there, my late wife and I had no intention of staying there at all. My wife suggested that we stay there in a bed and breakfast over night. We had no plans stay there, therefore we had no sleep wear with us more cloths to wear the next day. This was very unlike her, which surprised me!! We did stay and have returned many times (prepared for several day stay) and enjoyed it immensely each time! She passed away from brain cancer nine years ago today. June 30, 2014. This is a nice memory on a difficult day!! THANK YOU!!
Sidebar: Over 40 years ago I planted a weeping cherry tree, in my front yard. This was on "my property" between my house and the public sidewalk. Over 35 years it grew over 20-feet high and in diameter. We were very proud of it, especially in full bloom. When carpenter ants started to infest it I did everything I could to protect it, but lost the fight. Over the last five years, of its life, I had to start pruning dead branches/limbs. Finally, I was down to two 8" diameter limbs, one leaning out over the public walk, the other leaning out over my porch awning. I had resigned myself to the fact it had to come down. One deciding factor was the next night was Halloween and our area was expecting wind gusts up to 60mph. Fearing for my house, but more so for any Trick Or Treaters, I started cutting it down. Being safety conscious, and a heavy construction worker, I started trimming until I was positive the large limbs would not hit anyone or anything other than the ground. Once I cut the limbs, at the trunk, one could see there was only a 1-inch thick ring of live wood, everything else was hollowed by the ants. A young man approached, after I'd cut the crown off the trunk and asked what I was doing. I explained I was cutting down the tree because of the expectant high winds and showed him the hollowed limbs. A few weeks later I received a ticket in the mail with a court date. I was being charged with a misdemeanor crime and faced a fine and/or jail time, for cutting down my tree. Seems that Dearborn is a "Tree City". As such, if one wants to/has to cut down a tree, even if it is on their own property. They have to jump through the city's hoops. If the tree is over 17" in diameter (mine was 20 inches), measured at chest height (I'll talk later on this), the person must obtain a city permit. The city is quite proud to announce the permit is "free". However, to get one you have to provide a report, from a licensed arborist, on the condition of the tree, and why it has to come down. You have to hire a licensed contractor, to remove it. You have to provide insurance for the work. You also have to plant another tree (somewhere else) or pay a fine to the city, who will then plant a tree. They don't mention how much all this costs, but the actual permit is free. Getting to the chase. I went to court and met with the city attorney. I ended up paying a $196.17 fine and after a year the item was removed from my record. In all a lot less than applying for the "free permit". I had always intended to replace the tree, which I did a few weeks ago. Now, if I live long enough (I'm currently 73) and the tree grows over 17- inches in diameter, I have the same ant problem, and have to cut the tree down. I'll call the city on myself. My arguement might be lame, but the tree diameter is the loophole. No where on the permit is there an "actual height" description. Only "chest height". Whose chest height? If it's 16.5 inches, at a toddlers height, but 20 inches at mine, one might say the height is "vague and ambiguous".
So for the safety of others (and yourself), you took down your own tree - - that posed an imminent danger. There probably wouldn’t have been enough time to get that darn permit before those gusting winds arrived and add to that you had to pay a fine - - for being safety conscience.
According to the city representative, I should have still gotten the permit. This would have required me to still spend the money I would have otherwise. I might add that they were not swayed by my cautions. They wanted to know, "What, in my opinion, made the tree a hazard?" They didn't seem impressed by the photos or the fact that I had just retired, after a 23 year career as a senior safety officer for my state's OSHA program. That career involved inspecting construction sites for safety hazards, some involved natural conditions (which could create a hazard), investigating construction accidents/injuries/fatalities. This was after my 23 year heavy construction career.
@@johnrielley7756 I can accept that, however, such a reference would/should be included in the document. I personally used lack of such references to stymie my supervisors, when we disagreed on citations to be issued to a contractor.
My backyard neighbor recently hired someone who temporarily removed the chain link fence between our properties to come over and cut down one of MY trees; and then put the fence back up. Already going to the table with the company that did it. And unfortunately for them, I took both photos and videos of them in the act. It’s going to get messy…..for them.
I have 30 acres of land, and up above me, the property was developed and suddenly there was a home looking down on our house and property. So I planted 2 rows of hemlocks on my side of the property line so they couldn't just look down on us. They complained that it would shut off their view. I told him if you want a view, make sure you own the property in front of you. Otherwise you will probably lose your view. So for people who want a view, just beware of that,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
If some kind of tree cutting service did the work, I’m suspicious of the fact that they didn’t get a permit. They should’ve known a permit was necessary and it’s possible the reason why they didn’t get one was because they knew they were cutting down trees and someone else is property.
The crew actually doing the work was further subcontracted. They may have been in on it, or may have been under the impression that the company that contracted them for the work had a permit (a very shy permit). In any event, according to that "friend of the arborist", a $32,000 fine each was levied against the property owner, the company he hired, and the subcontracted company. If the subcontractor was genuinely misled, I would expect to see further civil action pointing fingers and squabbling over who pays what.
Tree law is no joke. There was a man back in my hometown who lived up in the hills above the city and he wanted a better view of the lake. So he cut down a bunch of trees. a few were on his land but most were on Crown land (Gov't land). When the city found out they had inspectors sent out. He got fined for any tree over 1.5 inchs thick. There were tons of smaller trees/bushes that were over the 1.5 inches. Total fine was north of $4 Million. Guy had to sell his house, truck, boat, camper, motocycle, art work, and wine collection to pay most of it back. Not sure where he got the rest but when he was leaving his house for the last time the neighbours all lined the street and cheered as he drove by.
A family friend had a small house block with trees that blocked a rich neighbours coastal view . The neighbour could have bought the block, it wasn't expensive, but waited until a holiday and had the trees cut down. Nothing was done, local police didn't want to know, going to civil court would have been too expensive and the neighbor had too much local influence. It still makes me sad and angry even though I am not directly involved but there is nothing that us "little people" can do sometimes. ( except not use the neighbors business, boycotts are our only recourse)
Nothing can be done??? boycotts?? I guess if your a p*ssy and think like that well that is why you got screwed because every one knows you will just take it. None of my neighbors ever, and I mean ever thought they could do whatever they wanted to me and nothing would happen.
For a civil suite one has to find a lawyer who specializes in tree law, and they will almost always take the cases on contingency since the payouts are so large in most states. It is usually very easy to track down and prove who ordered the trees to be cut down through the tree cutter's business, and the value of the tree(s) is usually put as the replacement value of grown tree(s) of the same size. The tree replacement value can be in the range of thousands to 100's of thousands of dollars per tree depending on the species, size, availability, and technical difficulties of replacement. I have heard of this value including the cost to move the house to access the back yard. Then most states apply treble damages to that amount. The payouts can be in the millions of dollars for some single specialty trees, and for multiple mature trees the sky is the limit. The lawyers who specialize in tree law salivate over such cases, since all they have to do is get the business records of the tree cutting firm to find out who paid to have the trees cut down (voluntarily or by court order), and they are almost always slam dunk cases since the tree cutter will always follow their lawyers, and most importantly, their insurance companies lawyers advice to point the finger at the person who hired them in order to avoid paying damages. The insurance companies have the deepest pockets and the most incentive to place the liability firmly where it belongs: on the person who hired the company to cut down the trees.
A friend of mine had a flaky neighbor. He originally got permission to take trees on the guy's property to run power out to his property. They cut about 22 trees and the guy changed his mind. My friend immediately had the service stop cutting and off to the land of lawyers they go. Guy wants comical amounts of money. My friend's lawyer meet with my friend and gets an idea of what trees were cut and where on a map. They get the other guy's lawyer in and have the guy point out what trees were taken and it becomes obvious by the way he points out trees no where near where the service was cutting were taken and he wants compensation for those. Off to court they go. Opposing counsel screws up. Big time bad. Like suborning perjury bad. Judge figures it out and talks to my friends lawyer and lets them know what he think is going on. Opposing counsel gets on the stand and lies about a conversation and about who pointed out what trees were damaged. Judge pounces. Opposing counsel has a date with the disciplinary board. Plaintiff gets an earful about lying. Case dismissed. Reasons clearly stated in detail why the decision was made.
That is different had permission to do it then owner tried to scam by tricking him into cutting the trees down either way the trees for removal should have been marked then had owner on record for him being ok with it so a lot easier to show recorded footage of consent so cannot lie and say other person forged his signature.
Over 20 years ago my friend was standing in his office and saw a tree fall over. He owns over 100 acres and this tree was some distance from him. He went down to the trees and found a logger who claimed he was on the correct property. Once he was corrected, the Logger says: I'll just pay you for the logs". Uh, no, you trespassed and were stealing timber. My friend called the police and stopped the guy. He then called a friend with a logging truck and sold the logs as veneer wood. Had he went the civil route he'd be lucky to break even.
One article about this speculated about the eventual costs to the person who had the trees removed added up to $1.5 million for the mature replacement trees plus the costs of planting plus the cost of a road to access the planting location followed by the removal of said temporary road with landscaping.
One article I read stated that the cutters circumvented a fence to access the property to cut the trees. If so then someone knew for a fact they were trespassing.
the reporting of this incident is that the tree cutting company had to climb over a private fence of the land owner to access the trees to be cut so unless the offending homeowner lied to the cutters and they had no common sense to question what they did it is a problem and the potential fine for them. Both home owners are millionaires, the houses and property are valued at several million each,and these costs will not be felt too badly. The 1.5 mil cost is to replant the 32 trees putting a road down to access and maintenance to regrow the trees over decades is where the value is placed at.
As usual, Steve’s fans twigged to this story immediately, Steve saw it, and without being stumped, got to the root of the problem without branching into irrelevancies. The sap who did this should stick to his own property and not lumber onto other’s land, else he will cause his neighbors to arbor ill feelings.
@@RichardFelstead1949 I feel that the person who had his neighbor's trees cut down lacked a certain koala-ty of compassion for the neighbor. . . Greetings from California, USA.
My God, just _leaf_ it alone already. But yeah, I wouldn't mind seeing the guy stuffed in a _trunk,_ and taken somewhere to be _planted_ 6 feet under. Then no one would ever have to listen to the angry _bark_ of that old a-hole again. Yep, that _wood_ suit me just _pine_ and dandy.
There was a case on Cape Cod where some rich butthole cut down his neighbors tree because it blocked his view of the water. He did it when the tree owner was off island for a season. The judge ordered him to find and replace a tree exactly that size and age at his cost.
In California we have what are called Valley Oaks, primarily in the Central Valley. They’re a protected species. You can cut one down if it’s diseased or a danger, AFTER going through all the legal hoops to get the permit. Developers have to design their plans around these trees. Cut one down without a permit, or by accident, even God’s not going to help you.
I've seen a number of similar cases over the years, and invariably it turns out that the person doing the illegal cutting is doing it for the view, rarely just illegal logging.
There was a case in Pennsylvania where a large truck ran into and destroyed an old oak tree on a residential property. Replacement would have been nearly $100,000. The court awarded only $5,000 for diminished value to the property.
Haber's a CEO. His house is worth upwards $1.5 million. Considering the age of the mature, slow growing hardwoods, the fact that those trees will never be replaced during the plaintiff's lifetime and the defendant's apparent ill intent, I'd be settling for nothing less than $2 million in damages.
My house is 1000 feet from the road and the entire property is dense oak trees. The power company has 3 poles and an easement along my driveway to bring power to my home. During a storm, one of my trees fell over the power line and knocked out power. It stretched the cables and bent the weather head above my power meter. I didn't know if this was going to be a legal issue with the power company, so I contacted my Attorney. The power company Immediately brought heavy equipment and removed the fallen tree and corrected the line tension... but I had to cover the cost of an electrician and roofer to fix the weather head.
Guy down the street from me snuck over and cut down a neighbors tree while they were on vacation because it blocked the view to... another neighbors back yard. Yeah, weird. Around $50K in fines and restitution worth of weird. New tree blocks the view just as much.
When it's a story involving "Tree law" it's going to be golden... This stuff can quickly rank up in to the 100.000s depending on the number of trees, how old they are and what species.
I worked for a company that was required to plant trees that were equal to the circumference of a tree they cut down, while next door an entire forest was razed to make way for a housing development. I never could understand that one.
Hey Steve, triple damages for cutting down trees not on your property, is also known as triple-stumpage. Out here in the pacific northwest, people's republic of Washington, triple-stumpage is well known, for obvious reasons. People love to try the old oop's game, and get hit hard with triple-stumpage. Common excuses thought we were 20 foot from the property line. Thought we were on our property, etc.. Theirs's no thought, when in doubt, hire the surveyor, it's much cheaper. Each type / specie's of tree are valued differently. depending on the tree let's say it's a cedar tree (big difference between low-land cedar, and say mountainous cedar. (Lowland cedar tends to have much more branches, and as such, is valued lower at say per 1000 board feet, than highland / mountainous cedar, which is much more desirous because less knots in the wood.)
Paradise CA had an ordinance making it extremely difficult to cut any trees in the city. The town burned to the ground a few years ago. DECADES after I thought it would because they’re in the middle of the forest and in old fire country.
There is also a sentimental value to trees. If they were planted by his great great great grandfather, or a deceased loved one, the value of the trees greatly increases.
Wow that is pretty bold to cut down 32 trees on a neighbors property without their permission just so they can have a view of NYC! What was going through their head to think that was a good idea and would not be met without fines / a lawsuit?! I'd want that neigbor to return it back the way it was at whatever cost!
It’s 2023, I can lookup the owner of any parcel in the United States in about 2 minutes. It would then take a crew MAYBE 15 minutes a day to mark boundaries using GPS everyday they are working near the edge of the customer’s property. The fact that it is so easy to confirm you are in the right spot should automatically invalidate the defense “I guess we wondered onto the adjacent property”.
I hope with all my heart for this horrible person to get the full length of the law up his butt on this one. Honestly, the contractors deserve it too for going through with it. If they were willing to do this, I'd be worried what shady things they did on previous jobs.
Something I read in a legal book ( Never was a lawyer or law student) was a crime can also be a tort. In this case, there are 2 punishments for the same crime, one was the civil crime of cutting down the trees without a permit and the other one was the criminal act of cutting down the trees.
Yes, this is how OJ Simpson was successfully sued for huge damages for murdering Nicole Simpson and friend, even though the felony case was lost because the evidence was mishandled so he couldn't be convicted of the felony.
I do not need a permit to cut down any tree on my property. However in the back of my property there is a woodland easement. It runs 26 foot wide into my property from the property pins and 105 foot from pin to pin. I can not cut any living tree down in that area even though I own it. If the trees are dead, I can take pictures of them to my codes enforcer agent. He/she will then issue a permit to cut them down. There is no fee. I had seven dead ash trees cut down last year, two were in the easement. The company arborist signed off the trees were dead too.
Hard to believe NJ doesn't have higher penalties for cutting any trees down. The last I knew the garden state required you to have an arborist to come to your property just to tell you what limbs you can and can't remove from a tree on your own property. I'm commercial buildings they tell you you. Have to plant trees as part of a construction project. And if you think that is a violation of your Rights, Paramus NJ forces businesses to have an American flag flying out front on a flag pole
The person who had the trees cut down wanted too look out his mansion window and see the water and the NYC skyline, so he had his neighbors trees that obstructed his view cut down. Talk about entitlement!!! I hope he gets raked over the coals. These were old growth trees that were 80-100 ft tall or taller.
My neighbor cut down all the trees at the top of a hill behind my house so he can see the lake… hill couldn’t retain water as well after he cut them down…he admitted it. Court, sided with him.
In my state you get 3 times the current value and if it's not what's considered fully grown they estimate the full grown value and you get 3 times that in future value plus replanting land and lawn damage plus criminal fines
I just cut down 2 weedy bushes that obscured the view in both directions at the end of our road. The town won't do it and so I've been taking care of the problem for 10_years. I've got 5 drivers and don't want any of us to die because we can't see oncoming traffic.
My parents owned 50 rural acres in the Sierra foothills. He came home to find his cows were at the river, several miles away. When he checked and entire barbed wire fence bordering the neighbor was missing!
If this happened in the UK the person who had the trees cut down would be fully liable for the replacement of the trees with trees of the same age of those removed, and would have to hand over the timber value of the trees removed.
I know woman who had some of her neighbor's pines cut down. She was from Oklahoma and knew how quickly storms drop them, and with her new house in the way she wasn't happy, so she negotiated with the neighbors on both sides and paid them a fair price for their pines, leaving the numerous other trees. Everyone happy now :) I know a rich man who bought lakefront property where the Army Corps of Engineers controlled the first 100ft of the shoreline. You're not allowed to cut any trees down there no exceptions. He paid someone to cut all the trees down there while he attended a conference on the other coast claiming it must have been one of his enemies who did it. He lost everything and went to jail for fraud shortly after that so I don't know the outcome of the tree litigation as he lost that property too.
Decades ago, a neighbor decided to invade our property. He began cutting down a 12 foot deep swathe of bushy plants, including many I had purchased and planted. This area ran along our road line, property frontage for the 1 lane gravel road. I arrived home to find him merrily cutting away. Because of the land slope, this area worked as a privacy shield for our front deck. I was furious! He said he thought it would "look nice" if our home front matched his. WTF! We lived at the end of the road (cul de sac) so he didn't even have to see our wild area at all! Words were spoken (by me), never, never ever do this again. My husband wasn't pleased, either. Not lovely trees, of course, but our property, nonetheless. A few years later, the same neighbor was burning wood refuse on his land, thought the fire was out, and left to go shopping. The wind whipped it up, and the Forestry people said at least nine homes could have burned down. Including ours and his. Plus the side of our small mountain would have been ruined. The Forestry professionals were very angry. This could have been a dangerous and spreading wildfire situation, particularly with the winds. They had to bring pumper trucks loaded with water, as it was a rural area, lacking fire hydrants. Just lucky I came home at the right time and called 911. I was trying to defend our house with a garden hose, as the fire burned closer and closer.
We live surrounded by trees on several acres of quite lovely forested waterfront. The only real threat to our trees is another hurricane; the last one knocked down about 200 'significant' trees, and it took several years to clean up the twisted mess. Thankfully 200 is merely a small fraction of our total. Which is nice.
Back around 2003, there was a case in Alpine, NJ, where a homeowner decided to clear-cut a parcel of land in a state park that abutted his property. He intended to build a private tennis court on the land! He settled with the state for $2.7 million, probation, and community service. He could have gotten 10 years under NJ law.
I personally knew two individuals in Muskegon County Michigan who were jailed for doing this. One was a logger unintentionally crossing the line and the other was an excavation contractor who didn't care.
A thousand dollar fine per tree for a rich person is chump change. When you cut down a mature tree you are taking the enjoyment away from the beauty of that tree for a generation or more. I hope the person that ordered those trees removed is fined significant amounts of money.
This creep hired an entire crew of people to cut down his neighbors trees. They knew it was trespassing because they had to climb over a fence to do it. The creep is probably rich, and local people said he probably thought he would have to pay a $32,000 fine and was OK with that. However, the replacement cost is estimated at 1.5 million. Hope it bankrupts him. And yeah, the contracted crew should be on the hook for damages too.
That would sort of depend upon whether the contracted crew was acting in good faith. If a person hires a company to clear a piece of property and they assure the company that they own the property or have permission to remove the trees, I doubt most contractors would look up ownership records. If the person who hired them deceived the contractor, I would say the person who lied bears the responsibility.
@@itsapittie Not at all. Having to climb over a fence doesn't "pass the sniff test" of what a reasonable person would think on finding that. They're on the hook deep too and they deserve it.
@@P_RO_ , and as Steve said, there must have been a permit involved. A reputable service would have confirmed such before hand.
In most cities/townships, cutting down trees requires a permit. The contractor knows that. Ignorance is not a defense for a contractor. Their license requires that that follow the local laws. Therefore, I would include the contractor in the legal action.
I hope he sues and gets the full $1.5M! Cutting down 32 trees one someone's land totally ruins the land. I can only imagine how much a wooded lot in NJ would be worth.
20ish years ago my neighbor found out the value of my 500+ yr old live oak he had cut down while I was out of town. He was forced to sell his home.
Excellent!
You gotta elaborate dude, this is wildly interesting… Was it a fine from the town/city or did you sue? My knowledge on the law surrounding this is limited.
@@cygnus_XI This was nearly 30 years ago so I may get some of the details wrong.
St Charles/Carrolton Aves in New Orleans are lined with beautiful centuries old oak trees that hang over the street. It's part of the character of the city. The city maintained the limbs that hung over the streets to maintain a minimum clearance for trucks. My new neighbor wanted to park his massive RV next to his home but was blocked by a limb of my tree. The first time I met him he was ordering me to cut down my tree. I refused because it was protected by city ordinance. And also the area he wanted to park the behemoth was mostly my property. He had a lawyer contact me. I told him what I'm telling you. Then another lawyer. And if I recall another. Then one day when I returned from a business trip my tree was missing and his RV was parked on my property. He even had the audacity to sell the wood for a profit. Called the police. Called my lawyer. Filed a civil lawsuit. He actually tried to fight it. Fortunately for me he didn't didn't list that home as his primary residence so we were able to force it's sale to recoup damages. I don't recall him being arrested. But I do recall a fine of some sort.
Every time I go to NO and pass my old house That big empty spot looks so out of place. I had the largest oak tree they could replant in it's place. Even after almost 30 years it doesn't compare to the centuries old oak it replaced.
Not sure the value where you are, but about 15 yrs ago I was tasked with possibly buying a log for a customer's display. I priced out a white pine log, 12' long by 20" in diameter (not including delivery) at $2500.00. So I can assume the value of your tree was much greater than that! (by 1000x).
@nucleargrizzly1776 wow. Great story and lesson. I'm so baffled his attorneys reached out to you. They should have advised him better.
That's a level of disrespect that deserves everything they can get.
That is definitely a lack of respect.
Starting with the tree destroyer’s home.
Local news interviewed the victim. He said his neighbor comes off as very arrogant, a guy who believes he can do anything he wants to do and get away with it.
Lack of respect and lack of consciousness.. bad actions against someone they hated
@@joeharris3878😊
The replacement cost of 32 trees is WAY more than $32,000. The violator should pay for fully-grown replacement trees. $1.5 million sounds right.
There is also the cost of a professional caring for the trees for 3 to 5 years to add in
Yup it's expensive to replace the trees and maintain them and even after that they won't be mature for several decades. It's basically irreplaceable damage in 1 person's lifetime, the damages should be a minimum of $1.5. Hell for NJ having a wooded lot might be worth even more than that.
Where I live the standard judgement for cutting a neighbor's trees is 25,000 per tree. It's been like that for 40 years. Treble damages would make that huge.
The fines and costs to replace trees illegally removed generally go up, the older the trees are. If the tree is older than the country itself, those numbers go up a lot more.
Holy $#!% it's Tay Zonday!
Many years ago my family owned a 40-acre farm in Michigan. The Eastern boundary was wooded and ended at a steep decline into a river bottom. The neighbor on the east side hired a local tree cutter to have some trees removed. There were some issues, A, he hired a guy who went to school with my dad and they were close. He knew the trees were on my dad's property and called to ask if he really wanted those trees cut. Dad said no, those trees held up the steep decline, they were essential erosion control. Problem avoided.
Ten years later, that same neighbor hired an out-of-town tree crew to take out those exact same trees. Dad and I were on his roof making a repair when we noticed trees falling on the east 40. We caught them in the act and called the sheriff. The tree crew asked my dad what he could do to make him whole. Dad said to put the trees back up! What a mess.
We had the same thing happen here in NW CT. Rich out of state people moved from the big city to the country during the pandemic. The wealthy people waited until their neighbors left for vacation and had a crew come in an clear cut over an acre of trees so they could have a nicer view. The rich people didn’t think it was a big deal until the amount awarded to the land owner was over 1 million. Mature trees are not cheap. The rich people appealed the decision but lost. They claimed bankruptcy and moved out.
What right did he have to cut down his neighbors trees? Sue him out of existence immediately.
Quite a bit if the trees in question were causing a danger to his property.
This is not a 'hard and fast' thing in most states.
@@christopherkidwell9817 Never cut down another man's tree. You can trim it as it grows over your property. But youd be safer sleeping with his wife
@@christopherkidwell9817
My property, my trees. TELL me there's a problem. Don't take matters into your own hands or I'll own your property, too.
Also, an arborist should value the trees
None, turns out this guy just unilaterally did it because the trees were blocking his view of Manhattan. There wasn't even some mitigation by thinking erroneously that they were on his property, reading a NY Post article which said: "The tree cutters had climbed a fence clearly marking his property line"
Reminds me of the case 20 years ago in Seattle where a judge on the US circuit court of appeals had his gardener cut down 120 prized big-leaf maple and cherry trees in a public park that stood between his property and Lake Washington. Judge Farris ended up paying the city of Seattle more than $600,000 for cutting trees in Colman Park. Anyone surprised that a federal judge would feel that they were entitled to do something like that?
Was his name Clarence Thomas?
surprised he was held accountable
@@charleswieand4445 No, it was Jerome Farris... and not at all to my surprise he was appointed by Carter. How's that mirror looking?
He got off cheaply.
What a complete @Hole!! He probably knew how much the fine would be, so it was no big deal to him - - selfish, selfish, selfish‼️🤬🙄
My family owns a large property in central Oklahoma, most of which is thickly wooded. Until recently, it was rarely visited due to all of us living in other states. A few years ago when checking on the property, I found that a good 20 or so small trees had been cut down near one of the ponds. I started looking around and found a game camera. Apparently someone had cut the trees to give the camera a clear view of the pond, probably so they could see when the deer came to water. To add insult to injury, the poacher didn't even harvest the wood. He just threw the saplings to the sides of the cleared path. It might have been possible to find out who the camera belonged to but I probably could not have proven the camera owner cut the trees. I shot the camera with a high-powered rifle and it was very gratifying to see it explode into bits. Whoever placed the camera apparently got the message because I haven't found one since.
To bad the poachers were not close to the camera when the camera "Mysteriously" exploded. Great shot though!
Love it. I’d have videoed the ahem, “explosion.” It too worsened a message.
Good job! Love it ❤️
Unless the bullet actually hit the SD card the perp might still be able to retrieve the images. Images have been retrieved from cameras after the cards had been in water for years.
Poacher?
They cut down some Saplings... Get over it.
In 1964 we had an old bur oak stolen well attempted to steal for lumber off what was my grandparents farm between Albion and Marshall MI now my farm. The bur oak was 620 inches in circumference and 198 inches in diameter the sheriff was called as my grandfather held the timber thief and my mother took 2 rolls pictures. My grandparents got $50,000 for that tree and the thieves didn't even get to take any of the tree they fell for lumber.
My brother got the job as caretaker of a tree farm as a teen. He had a large number of people arrested for chopping down trees on the property. Hard to hide chainsaw and ax noise from on-site security.
jp: it is amazing where people get the chutzpah to steal other people's property because they think no one is around.
@@macforme There have been theft of walnut trees in some areas near my house. The walnut wood is highly desirable for furniture.
Did he get any "beaver" on the job?😉
What about a hand saw 😂
@@Rhaspun People are going to have to start having CCTVs, and alarms, monitoring their TREES to be able to catch these thieves.
A man here in California lived in a very expensive designer community with beautiful landscaping. For some reason he hated the large "oak" tree in his own front yard (not sure of the exact type of oak, all I remember is that it was about 15'-20' tall and dropped a lot of leaves every year in autumn). Because the HOA (still controlled by the developer since there were new homes yet to be sold) would not let him cut it down (every home had a similar tree so a missing tree would have disrupted the carefully planned look of the community) he decided to quietly poison the tree so it would seem to die of "natural causes". What he did not understand is that trees of the same kind tend to share (merge) roots to extend their ability to find water. When he poisoned his own tree he also poisoned every tree on the block (fortunately the roots did not extend under the streets or else it could have been the entire community) and killed a total of 18 trees. The whole thing was settled out of court. He was required to (A) remove all the dead trees, (B) treat & detoxify the soil where the trees had been, (C) locate, transport, and plant replacement trees (and sod) of the same type and similar age/size. This ended up costing him more than $200,000. By agreeing to pay the costs without contest he avoided being charged with multiple counts of felony vandalism which could have resulted in jail time of 3-24 years plus additional penalties. He sold his home (less than 5 years of equity so no profit really) and moved away never to be heard from again.
That's what you get when you don't adhere to HOA rules. Sometimes HOA's are HUA, sometimes not..but it's best to obey the rules when you've signed their agreements.
@@adotintheshark4848 In this case I agree he would have been so much better off if he had followed the rules and left the tree alone. Unfortunately there are MANY MANY MANY stories of HOA's who have arbitrary rules that change without notice and created by egocentric people with personal agendas. It's hard to follow the rules when they change daily, or worse when they are being weaponized against you personally because some board member has a bee in their bonnet. The court records are full of cases where HOA's went waaaaay too far abusing their power.
I am so glad I live in an area where you still have the freedom. I can do whatever I want in my yard. If I want to chop down every tree I can. I hear about people who live in HOA and it blows my mind. I grew up in rural Tennessee. I have lived in several states in my 45 years. They were really nice, but I am so glad to be back home. I live in a small community that doesn't even have police. They rarely if ever have to come out here. Used to not even have to lock your doors, but those days are gone. At least the handful of druggies don't stay out of jail very long. They go right back as soon as they get out. Hell, even they are nice people, but just can't change their ways.
Bastard is probably the guy that put in an offer on the house next door to me in Florida.
@@adotintheshark4848 Are you some HOA apologist?
He also topped other trees, not fully cutting them down. That pretty much speaks to intent if you ask me. He wanted the view. Speaking to the "flags", they had to scale a fence and there were "no trespassing" signs on the guys property, including one on a tree that was felled.
enough said !
If that really is the case everyone who cut the trees down and the neighbor should all have been arrested for criminal trespassing and destruction of property as well. Did the guy who wanted the trees down claim to be the property owner?
South east Pennsylvania. I was out of town for five weeks. When I returned, a contractor for a land development company was dumping stumps and dirt on my property to support the road for the development. I had to pay for a property survey since the corner marker stakes had been removed. The pile was about 34 feet high, 74 feet over the property line for a distance of 220 feet. Many 12" and larger white oak trees removed or buried in the fill. All guilty parties agreed of the encroachment, but refused to remove the debris. I sued. I went through three law firms, 10+ attorneys, professional witnesses and surveyor. AND depositions, court appearances, major expense,10 years of my life until I was made an offer to pay my bills and accept as is claiming too much to correct. Law enforcement not interested, civil issue. City that approved the drawings, worthless engineer.
Why so long and not corrected. Engineer who designed the development was married to a local judge. No one in the county would represent me except to take my $$$$$. So much for honesty and integrity.
Southwest Pennsylvania here. Got a friend who was held responsible for being struck by a speeder while stopped at a stop sign because the speeder was a judge's son. Cop spoke to the speeder and that was that.
Myself I had to deal with a judge who we're pretty sure was taking bribes to try and find any way to keep a fraudulent lawsuit against us going. Guy was so corrupt on so many level he actually got removed and bared from ever being a judge again which I don't have to tell you for PA really is saying something about just how bad he was. They pulled a judge out of retirement to finish our case and he dismissed it with prejudice in exactly as long as it took him to read the transcripts.
Oh and the local DA is currently in trouble for using his office to retaliate against the guy who was investigating him...for using his office to retaliate against people...
I hate to say it about my own home but honesty and integrity simply shouldn't be excepted out of the legal system that gave the world the Cash for Kids scandal.
It's America dude, land of schisters and halfwits
Unbelievable what they got away with. I live in the area, curious to know where in SE PA this was?
@@robertm5969 City of Reading
My uncle had a neighbor that was upset because a tree in my uncle’s yard was shedding leaves and falling in his swimming pool. The tree was a tall maple with one branch extending over the fence line. My uncle returned home one day to find his tree cut down. The neighbor had to replace the tree and pay extra for wood for my uncle’s fireplace.
How did he prove it was the neighbor?
In Minnesota, one can cut any branches from a neighboring tree back to the property line as long as it doesn't kill the tree.
@@Betharoot I'm assuming you can read, and someone else didn't read the post you replied to on your behalf. His neighbour cut the "TREE" down, not branch.
@@mickk8519The idea would be that in Minnesota, there would be a viable legal alternative to what the guy did.
This couldn't have come at a better time for me. Just two months ago I sent a letter to my neighbor who cut down my trees (with my survey dots painted on them) and pulled up my survey pins with a tractor. I asked him how he plans to rectify the situation. I own a large property so it's not like I am on all parts of it all the time. I didn't realize any of this was happening until I heard the neighbor's tractor and happened to be nearby on one of my trails at that time. I physically saw him pull one of the survey pins. My property has been surveyed 3 times to my knowledge without any boundary disputes. I've owned it about 11 years. I called the former owner of my property who told me the neighbor pulled the same stunt with him by pulling survey pins (don't know if any trees were involved at that time). I will be anxious to hear the outcome of this case.
Sue them
@@kenneth9874 I probably will have to because I had the property lines re-surveyed and marked and he ignored my request to pay that bill. This particular neighbor has had confrontations with 2 other adjoining neighbors, too. The problem I've had with suing is you can't get money from turnips. I looked at the deed to the neighbor's property and his mother and uncle actually own the property. He just lives in a shed on the property. He appears to be an able bodied 40 to 50 year old guy who in my opinion is just a mooch. He has a tractor, but most likely leased. I've won cases over the years with many people, but if they are worthless, there's no justice for me because there's nothing to collect.
@@PioneerMountainHomestead are there any criminal statutes that apply there?
@@kenneth9874 Good question. I've really not researched. I've seen him pull a survey pin with his tractor but didn't actually see him cut the trees, but given that he was there, I'm guessing he cut the trees. Would trespass be criminal? The lines were clearly marked with yellow painted survey dots on the trees. I also had 'no trespass' signs up, but in my area the bears often pull the signs down. I do an annual sign update around the property (it takes two days of hiking each year to do this due to terrain and size so it's not an activity that you can "forget" or be distracted from. I know signs went up because those days were set aside for that task). Even if the bears took the signs, there are usually sign scraps around and yellow painted dots should be a clue to him where the line is. Not to mention intentionally pulling a survey pin should clue someone in to where the line is. I was trying to be reasonable requesting my out of pocket costs be reimbursed, but the guy apparently wants to be a jerk.
@@PioneerMountainHomestead in many places trespassing is a serious criminal offense, destroying private property such as survey pins certainly is
I once owned some undeveloped land in Alabama that was heavily wooded, with old growth oak, black walnut, etc. I constantly got letters from timber companies, offering me pennies on the dollar or even less, to come clear cut the property. Even had one send a letter thanking me for my permission to come cut, hoping I wouldn't catch on, I guess. I had to talk to the neighbor to keep an eye on the place, (and gave him permission for hunting and gathering as encouragement) to keep someone from coming and stealing the trees, as that is a common problem in that particular area. Old growth especially is worth a lot of money, and once it's gone, no replacement tree is going to be worth as much in our lifetimes!
I feel kind of bad that my mom sold such land in Ohio to Amish who I know planned to cut the trees down. We gave the neighbors ample opportunity to buy the land, but my mom needed the money and the land was just an expense.
Ugh. I have a Japanese maple I bought after my dad died 15 years ago. It was tiny when I bought it, so for the first couple years it was in a pot on my porch, to prevent someone from stealing it. The nursery recommended I do that. Now the tree is planted in my fairy garden, but still in a pot, the pots bottom is just cut out. So last year, someone tried to steal it, but apparently didn’t realize the roots have long been set, so they cut off every branch on it. I cried for days. I’ve been shaping that tree for 15 years and I planted it as a memorial to my dad.
My husband and I get so angry, about the entitlement, that some have to just cut down such old living tree's even if the land owner cuts them it is wrong on all accounts ..a couple of hundred years old...for fire wood, we can do better!.
No we are not tree huggers🤣
@@kellidinit3725bless your heart, whom ever did that was just evil in my book, I hope karma gives them a visit.
@@kellidinit3725 Oh, honey I am just so sorry! I had to have a beloved tree cut down, before it blew down in a storm. I cried buckets. Your grief is so much worse. Very sad for you.
As a former certified arborist yes the Civil damages can be huge. We measure the trees at 4ft above ground and take the diameter of the tree. That is calculated to come up with the value of the tree.
could the owner not also sue for replacement? I mean literally re-placement as in restoring the original state "no matter what it costs". That offcourse could get insane quickly as large trees have deep roots, so if the tree cutter is unlucky, a storm knocks down the trees, but would not have knocked down the original trees...
@@sarowie Trees can only be translated to a certain size, if a tree is too big, it wouldn't survive the transplanting, even if they could figure out how to do it physically. Typically replacement involves planting a bunch more smaller trees, plus fines on top.
One of our friends had a neighbor who cut down several trees on our friend's property 'accidentally' although there was already some conflict with the neighbor not liking the trees. As it turns out in Oregon even accidentally cutting down trees that are not yours are triple damages and the neighbor got slammed with a huge damage settlement. I assume because in a logging state there was a whole lot of 'accidental' tree cutting going on.
the only good I heard from oregon.
Yup that makes sense, if logging is big business there's a lot of reason to protect the trees. Cattle rustling is still on the books as punishable by hanging in Texas lol.
In Texas it’s triple damages. 3 times the value of the tree. I was on a Grand Jury and a guy wouldn’t pay, so we indicted him for felony theft. I bet he paid up after that to avoid prison. I bet he still got a record and probation and still had to pay for the trees.
Trees ain't no joke. cut down the wrong ones or too many and you could be having to sell your house just to pay the fines
easier to farm animals than trees since animals used for meat or egg farming grow much faster a lot of fruit or trees used for wood need 5-10+ years so pretty slow so some idiot cutting them down wastes years of investment plus could have used the land for something else that would have made money every year instead of waiting for money years later as an investment
I had a neighbor who contacted someone to put a road through our property which is a forest , we have lots of trees. We heard the first tree go and went back there and this gal said she did not hire them. They stood there with there mouth open. They were not happy and apologized.
I did work for a huge paper company. We had a special tree planting machine that would dig up trees so huge that only one would fit on a extended transfer truck. But we would sell old growth trees (pine) to people that cut their neighbors trees. But a huge tree would cost over $40,000 before moving. That was 20 years ago.
I know one rigging company that also moves trees. The owner has a yard full of palm trees, most of them protected species locally, that he was paid to move, but where there was no place to move them to. So to his yard, and planted there, and you can pay again when you find where it will go. $50k for a small tree is not an unreasonable amount, especially if for some he had to hire in a heavy lift helicopter, to move the tree 500m, to where a truck big enough could carry it on the road.
@@SeanBZA I believe one man is a lot of trouble. I wonder what type of trees were cut. Pine trees are the lowest cost.
40k for a large tree sounds fair. But offcourse: before moving, replanting, taking care of the tree in the new place, potentially having to replace it when the tree does not survive for some reason... add all that, then multiplied by 32 trees and yeah: Lumber is cheap, Trees are expensive.
In Australia a few years ago a developer pulled the same stunt. He cut down dozens of trees so the homes he was going to build would have a better view and he could charge more. The court's decision? (you will love this) They required the government to put up signs all along the site blocking all views from the future homes. The signs said that the developer (name used) had cut down all the trees in a bid to make more money by getting a better view. He was found guilty and the signs must remain in place until the trees that he had to replace are grown to the height they would have been if he had not cut them down. You have to love Australian justice! BTW the signs are still there and the developer had to sell the property at a loss because no one wanted to live facing the signs.
32 tree’s that’s ridiculous, I would sue the living crap out of them
That was just the tip of the iceberg. The land owner stopped them well before they were finished.
Apparently he asked them nicely to quit cutting, but they said something to the effect that his neighbor next door had paid them a lot of money to cut the trees. The owner had to call the cops in to stop them.
The trees can also be recovered for loss of value to the property. The most I have heard accessed for one mature tree was $100,000 and that was subject to triple damages! The offending person was forced to sale their house and for bankruptcy. In Louisiana, the logging company is also held liable, because they are independently responsible for confirming land ownership and authority.
I love a good tree law story, especially the ones where they're forced to sell their home that they were so proud of to pay for damages
Because I live in one of those "Tree City USA" towns, I'm all for killing all trees by any means possible.
well, the home has gained in value, because it now has a clear view. Well... if the court is smart it is a clear view on a billboard.
You cut my trees down, I burn your house down. With you in it.
I just saw a Seattle tv station story where a guy and some of his neighbors cut down a bunch of trees to get a better view of the Seattle skyline. The trees were on city land, and the vandals were ultimately fined a total of $440,000!
Wow, this brought a memory back. My parents bought a small parcel of land in SE Texas to retire on, which they did. There was a tax advantage in listing it as a "tree farm", and they did from time to time sell a few pine trees to nearby loggers to deliver to a sawmill (or actually, usually a paper mill) to keep up the tax "dodge". Not a big deal, all legal, and they are both long since passed, so try to catch them on that! Hah! But the reason this made me comment is that there was an elderly woman who bought a similar parcel near theirs. Turned out she was terminally ill, and just wanted to spend her last times in nature. When she passed away, my father actually contacted the county, seeking to buy the land from her heirs if they were willing. He was stalled by the county clerk, and about two months later, every tree on that parcel was "harvested" (meaning stolen) by someone, that apparently was the county commissioner himself. Everyone involved has long since shed this mortal coil, but it has led to my general distrust of government at all levels.
My father was interested enough to finally get in touch with the executor of the estate, and indeed, that woman never gave up her timber rights to the land, nor did any of her heirs. But it went from (bear in mind, this is 40 years ago) $2000/acre to about $300/acre because of the loss of the tree harvest.
That's a shame!
A friend of mine in NC told me that the government was actually paying him to not cut down the trees on his property. I never ask how much and don't know about his taxes related to that, but it was interesting twist.
@@johnshaw6702 It still amazes me that the Govt. pays a lot of money to many farmers to not farm their land. Because of erosion. Really? But I can see keeping the trees.
That's so sad! I am so fed up with the corrupt greedy people in this world... just ugh🙁
Swamp rats don’t just live in DC !!
I traveled to CA last week to check on two properties I own there. I discovered that PG&E (AKA PUD or Public Utility District) had been on my property and cut down approximately 30 trees, many large, old trees over 100 years old and over 100 feet tall. PG&E sent out a response crew to examine the site. Unfortunately, their maps were off, and they thought the trees were on my neighbor's property. They gave my neighbor a release form giving them permission to remove the trees. I was never asked or informed, due to their electronic maps being off (a lot!). So now my journey to justice begins. Hours of taking pictures, scanning documents, writing explanations, all so they can deny my claim, so I can then go out and hire an attorney and spend thousands of dollars and months (or years) proving that they illegally trespassed on my property and illegally cut down huge old trees.
Years ago a guy in Maryland realized he'd have a nice view of the Potomac if he removed all of the trees between the road and the river. He hired a crew, then each day he's check on their progress, bringing them refreshments. Then he deducted the cost of the refreshments from his final payment. The amount wasn't huge, but the contractor was so incensed he filed a lawsuit. A local DC TV station heard about the suit. They looked into it and learned not only were the trees not on his property, they were on Federal land. Talk about chutzpah!
My parents had 3 lilac bushes that had been planted 50 years prior cut down by the neighbor. The sheriff refused to even interview the neighbor. Mysteriously when he went on vacation his two poplar trees that my parents helped plant years before "fell" down.
Never touch another man's wife, never touch another man's pie, and never touch another man's tree.
Had this happen in Seattle. 'Someone' cut down trees in the park down slope from a guy's McMansion which is the only property that 'benefited' from the removal of the trees. I can't prove it but we all know who had the trees removed.
But someone did the actual removal, and that shouldn't be very hard to nail down.
Four years ago, I purchased 100 acres of newly logged (and very rugged) land. I can say with confidence based on post logging surveys that the logging process and vehicles used were precise within a couple of feet. Not sure when the preserve "mistake" was made, but modern GPS systems, assuming they were used and properly configured, would have alerted the loggers. That said, the mess made by logging was ridiculous and exceedingly ugly. Having received the exact logging financials prior to closing, the irony is that I would have paid more to the person selling me the land to keep it natural than what they netted for logging it.
You don't mess with tree law. That's asking for trouble
Sue the tortfeasor!
Similarly, bird law is very potent.
Tortreesor
Figure a ballpark of $1000/year, and some tree ages are measured in centuries. Oh, and treble damages - and that’s assuming you don’t manage to chop down the tree marking where the judge’s friend’s ashes were spread
32 trees? That STARTS in the millions, and assumes you don’t do anything to annoy city laws like cause water-shed problems or pollute city water supplies.
I've watched your videos for years, but this one really hit home. I live in Michigan also, and I am supposed to have the tallest tulip tree in the state in my front yard. Learned a lot about Michigan tree laws in this video, that I never knew. Thanks for the info, and all you do!
Saw this on NY The Post’s website and frankly the before and after pics are shocking. Post cutting, it looks terrible. Also to replant the trees will require the building of a temporary roadway, estimated at $1.5 million. The cutters had to climb over an intact chainlink fence to cut them down. Some of the trees were over 100 years old.
It'd be too bad if the 'cutter' didn't get to enjoy the view.
Planted a small grove of 20 fruit trees. Worked for years to grow them. Went out on the weekends to check, fertilize and fill watering tanks. One weekend found most of them gone. Someone used a tree spade to steal them. Never found out who but if we would have could have cost thousands per tree if we would have figured it out.
If anything has value, there’s a low down thief looking to steal it.
Apparently it is possible to microchip trees
@@i_am_bisexual_or_something3132 This was decades ago and I stopped that property development since. Years spent trying to develop and improve it but got tired of fighting with everything from dumping trash to a meth lab. Eventually got permits to install fencing and gates but people stole that too.
The guy that had the cutting done should go to prison, what he did is theft for a large amount of value.
I know of two people here in Colorado that are fighting this , one lady had so 300 trees cut down on her land and the DA refused to charge the person that did it because of who the person it, that’s in Clear Creek county! A friend of mine come home from vacation and their neighbor had cut 40 plus trees down in she back yard! That was in El Paso county, she can’t get any charges filed either! No justice in either case! The lady from Clear Creek county has well documented her efforts to get justice on social media!
Sometimes I wonder if Colorado is attempting to become the Florida of the Western half of the U.S.
In this situation, the contractor knew he was trespassing. It has been reported that the victim homeowner ordered the contractor off his property and the contractor said, effectively, "no, the guy next door paid me a lot of money to do this."
Where i lived they'd been shot dead for refusing to leave when ordered to or at removed by force
I am not particularly interested in firearms, but this could be the exception fo possessing one... Amd that tree contractorcould be sued into bankruptcy. He knew what he was doing, did it for the money.
I would have told them either leave or i'm calling the cops. And if I thought I was in danger just going out their I probably would have looked like a pirate - armed to the hilt.
I had one friend who made a false ID so that he could drink earlier.
When he applied for social security, he discovered that for many years, he was going by the wrong ID and he was younger than he thought
in the reddit commentor community, treelaw is a very popular subtopic.
80 year old oak? cut down? the person who did it now has to replace that tree. you can buy and plant an 80 year old tree. and suddenly, the value of replacing the tree can exceed the value of the property.
one case was in UK, where 150 years ago, someone brought sequoia seeds to the UK and planted them on various places.
a family cut down one of those on another property. the tree was invaluable, and they were special landmarks and specifially protected.
Yup Reddit is where I learned about tree law. It's fascinating.
@@sarajuanaictSurprised about the sequoia being they need intense heat from fire for a seed to be any good. Did they know that fact back then?
@2olvets443 that was the time of discovery and Darwin. They were well into experimentation and probably figured out how to plant those trees a couple years/decades before. Thats prob why the sequoias were brought over, either as an experiment or because it was cool at the time
Fire makes the seed cone release the seeds. I don't think it's required for the seeds to germinate.
@@Reno_Slim I think you may well be right. Some plants eg Proteas need fire to germinate in the wild but a commercial grower discovered bathing them in woodsmoke worked too, which is why Proteas are now available in bouquets of cut flowers (too expensive previously).
Last year the power company removed and replaced a power pole that had rotted. I walked out and chatted with them as they worked. The spot they chose to place the new pole was on nice flat ground at the top of the ditch (my property). Every so often they hire a tree company to trim along their power lines. Just so happened they had placed the pole 11' out of where it should have gone and thus the trimming company butchered my 30 year old white pine. I loved that tree. I had carried that tree in my arms from my old property and it stood as a significant focal point of my landscaping. Now it is in danger of falling over and ripping out my powerlines that come from the ROW to my house. It looks terrible and will never recover. The power crew never got a survey of where the property line ends and the road right of way begins. I realized the mistake when a small part of my property was emanate domained by the city for their use.
The power company offered me $500 to give them an easement so they don't have to move poles. Turs out they actually screwed up the entire block and would have to move a lot of poles and locate them in the bottom of the ditch. There is 120' dedicated road right of way for such things. Giving them an easement devalues my land and restricts that much more ground for my use. They have offered to move the poles 2 feet someday and nothing has been said about my pine. It has been 3 months. The city has rules but doesn't enforce them. The state law protects property owners from anyone who tries to take away enjoyment of owner's property . The power company has a reputation of plopping poles where ever they please. After 7 years they will have a right to that land through adverse possession. They hinted that they could just do that.
I think it is time somebody stands up to them and teaches them a lesson. Hoping for tree damages, fine for conducting business on residential private property, loss of my use for the year, and punitive damages for not surveying and making a habit out of taking land from customers. They are going to hate me . Ha ha.
Steve it should be noted that in some parts of New Jersey some towns require that you get permission to cut down trees even if they are on your own property. Tree absorb a LOT of water. It is not unusual in New Jersey to see "wetlands" develop. This can range from the ground becoming permanently soggy all the way to small but permanent ponds being formed. In areas where there are large numbers of single family detached homes, i.e. a development, this is a real issue. New Jersey is a state where people have literally drowned during heavy rainstorms while traveling on four and six lane highways (divided even). Kinnelon, NJ is a well off town. And yes it was for the view of NYC ~30 miles away.
My parents owned a wooded area on our farm in Wood County Ohio, someone came in and cut down 4 Black Walnut trees, this was in a field area where it blocked no ones view but where cut down to steal them for the value of the wood. These trees where actually considered stolen and where old ones and worth quite a bit, approximately easily 10000 dollars plus a tree because of the value of, at the time, Black Walnut. They only took a few off the field edge, but it was our field and our wood we camped in sometimes and would hunt on (mostly rabbits and squirrels but occasionally a deer). It also damaged part of our crops,(if I remember right it was corn that year, so they drove through the cornfield, damaging that, and each time took one of our largest Black Walnuts at the field edge, which when fell took out more crops. Unfortunately this was in the mid 80s and this was not a time trail camera had really come out yet so we camped in the woods for a few months, and tried to catch them. Also this woods was virgin woods, (never had anything cut down, but in a small area we did remove brush to have a little personal camping site for, us, freinds, and familiy if permission was asked. It was only 5 or 6 miles from our house, but for my parents, and a weekend getaway for the family, it was nice. Plus my childhood friends would come because the parents knew it was close and everyone had a great time.
Note: my father did run a couple people off that he did not know, so not neighbors, but they where scouting the trees probably, and we did not have enough "proof" for anything to stick but the no trespassing signs. So did get them for trespassing.
A huge fine and the cost of replacing those trees. This landowner that had the trees cut is going to be lucky to keep their home after this.
If they put their home in a trust, they wouldn't have to worry about losing their home.
@@mamaitaliano9774 I think the home in a trust can be defeated, as it can be claimed the placing of it in a trust, with the person in control of the trust, was a deliberate act to hide assets, and to evade the law.
@@SeanBZA I'd argue it would make the punitive damages more severe because it demonstrates willful intent.
The jerk owns his own business too.
"Removed" is a cute way of saying "stolen". Make him pay to replace the trees he stole.
This same situation happened to the previous owner of the land that my parents just purchased. There is a semi recent development above the land and it is extremely obvious the tress were cut just for the view and very old hardwoods lay there today. The trees were the main reason the previous owner bought the land and declined when approached by the developer before. He did a lot of business across the country and the large section was cut while he was on an extended trip. Apparently he was heartbroken about it but never pressed charges as he was described to us a pushover of sorts. My parents now own this section and are very cautious about the development. If that were to happen now it would be a bad time but it has had lasting effects on how the area looks as those trees were easily 100 years old.
good thing they weren't over 150 years old or they'd be irreplaceable.
In Maine, it is treble damages, and it is the cost to replace with a like tree. Cut down a 100 foot tree on someone else's property? Could cost you over a million. X for removal of the stump, Y for buying a new 100 foot tree, Z for digging up the new tree, AA for transporting the new tree including all permits and utility work required for the move, BB for planting the new tree, CC for an arborist to take care of the tree until it can survive on its own and DD for someone to manage the process. So, X+Y+Z+AA+BB+CC+DD all time 3. Saw 1 in Maine (but I do think it was 3 trees that were 30-40 feet tall) that ended at $1.4 million.
i was a police officer on bois blanc island in northern michigan 38 years ago. this exact same thing happened. a guys next door neighbor came over and cut down a big area of the complainants trees. many were at least 100 years old. he had no explanation why he did it.
Lots of people have no idea how valuable mature trees are and are just assholes.
Years ago a neighbor asked if he could have one of our trees trimmed so that he could have a view from his home. Since this tree gave us a sense of privacy, and he wanted us to pay half. That was an easy, no!
At least the neighbor asked. Still it's interesting to see what others believe is "fair" to themselves.
I can't imagine any amount of money that can compensate the loss of the trees but I certainly hope the property owner gets ALL of that money & then some!❤️🌲❤️
Have a great weekend everyone ❤️🇺🇸❤️
I love Copper Harbor, Michigan!! The first time there, my late wife and I had no intention of staying there at all. My wife suggested that we stay there in a bed and breakfast over night. We had no plans stay there, therefore we had no sleep wear with us more cloths to wear the next day. This was very unlike her, which surprised me!! We did stay and have returned many times (prepared for several day stay) and enjoyed it immensely each time! She passed away from brain cancer nine years ago today. June 30, 2014. This is a nice memory on a difficult day!! THANK YOU!!
😔🙏
Sidebar: Over 40 years ago I planted a weeping cherry tree, in my front yard. This was on "my property" between my house and the public sidewalk.
Over 35 years it grew over 20-feet high and in diameter. We were very proud of it, especially in full bloom. When carpenter ants started to infest it I did everything I could to protect it, but lost the fight. Over the last five years, of its life, I had to start pruning dead branches/limbs.
Finally, I was down to two 8" diameter limbs, one leaning out over the public walk, the other leaning out over my porch awning.
I had resigned myself to the fact it had to come down. One deciding factor was the next night was Halloween and our area was expecting wind gusts up to 60mph. Fearing for my house, but more so for any Trick Or Treaters, I started cutting it down.
Being safety conscious, and a heavy construction worker, I started trimming until I was positive the large limbs would not hit anyone or anything other than the ground.
Once I cut the limbs, at the trunk, one could see there was only a 1-inch thick ring of live wood, everything else was hollowed by the ants.
A young man approached, after I'd cut the crown off the trunk and asked what I was doing. I explained I was cutting down the tree because of the expectant high winds and showed him the hollowed limbs.
A few weeks later I received a ticket in the mail with a court date. I was being charged with a misdemeanor crime and faced a fine and/or jail time, for cutting down my tree.
Seems that Dearborn is a "Tree City". As such, if one wants to/has to cut down a tree, even if it is on their own property. They have to jump through the city's hoops.
If the tree is over 17" in diameter (mine was 20 inches), measured at chest height (I'll talk later on this), the person must obtain a city permit. The city is quite proud to announce the permit is "free".
However, to get one you have to provide a report, from a licensed arborist, on the condition of the tree, and why it has to come down. You have to hire a licensed contractor, to remove it. You have to provide insurance for the work. You also have to plant another tree (somewhere else) or pay a fine to the city, who will then plant a tree.
They don't mention how much all this costs, but the actual permit is free.
Getting to the chase. I went to court and met with the city attorney. I ended up paying a $196.17 fine and after a year the item was removed from my record. In all a lot less than applying for the "free permit".
I had always intended to replace the tree, which I did a few weeks ago. Now, if I live long enough (I'm currently 73) and the tree grows over 17- inches in diameter, I have the same ant problem, and have to cut the tree down. I'll call the city on myself.
My arguement might be lame, but the tree diameter is the loophole. No where on the permit is there an "actual height" description. Only "chest height".
Whose chest height? If it's 16.5 inches, at a toddlers height, but 20 inches at mine, one might say the height is "vague and ambiguous".
Blessings to the new tree!
So for the safety of others (and yourself), you took down your own tree - - that posed an imminent danger. There probably wouldn’t have been enough time to get that darn permit before those gusting winds arrived and add to that you had to pay a fine - - for being safety conscience.
According to the city representative, I should have still gotten the permit. This would have required me to still spend the money I would have otherwise. I might add that they were not swayed by my cautions. They wanted to know, "What, in my opinion, made the tree a hazard?" They didn't seem impressed by the photos or the fact that I had just retired, after a 23 year career as a senior safety officer for my state's OSHA program. That career involved inspecting construction sites for safety hazards, some involved natural conditions (which could create a hazard), investigating construction accidents/injuries/fatalities. This was after my 23 year heavy construction career.
Diameter at Breast Height (dbh) is a standard forestry measurement, and in the US that's at 4.5 feet.
@@johnrielley7756 I can accept that, however, such a reference would/should be included in the document. I personally used lack of such references to stymie my supervisors, when we disagreed on citations to be issued to a contractor.
In my city you're not allowed to cut down your own trees without permission from the city
My backyard neighbor recently hired someone who temporarily removed the chain link fence between our properties to come over and cut down one of MY trees; and then put the fence back up. Already going to the table with the company that did it. And unfortunately for them, I took both photos and videos of them in the act. It’s going to get messy…..for them.
I have 30 acres of land, and up above me, the property was developed and suddenly there was a home looking down on our house and property. So I planted 2 rows of hemlocks on my side of the property line so they couldn't just look down on us. They complained that it would shut off their view. I told him if you want a view, make sure you own the property in front of you. Otherwise you will probably lose your view. So for people who want a view, just beware of that,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
If some kind of tree cutting service did the work, I’m suspicious of the fact that they didn’t get a permit. They should’ve known a permit was necessary and it’s possible the reason why they didn’t get one was because they knew they were cutting down trees and someone else is property.
The crew actually doing the work was further subcontracted. They may have been in on it, or may have been under the impression that the company that contracted them for the work had a permit (a very shy permit).
In any event, according to that "friend of the arborist", a $32,000 fine each was levied against the property owner, the company he hired, and the subcontracted company. If the subcontractor was genuinely misled, I would expect to see further civil action pointing fingers and squabbling over who pays what.
@@circeciernova1712 Yes if these contractors can prove the guy lied to them they can sue him for their damages from this
you dont need a permit to cut trees where I live..........
@@FLY2KO This occurred in New Jersey, so New Jersey state law is applicable.
Tree law is no joke. There was a man back in my hometown who lived up in the hills above the city and he wanted a better view of the lake. So he cut down a bunch of trees. a few were on his land but most were on Crown land (Gov't land). When the city found out they had inspectors sent out. He got fined for any tree over 1.5 inchs thick. There were tons of smaller trees/bushes that were over the 1.5 inches. Total fine was north of $4 Million. Guy had to sell his house, truck, boat, camper, motocycle, art work, and wine collection to pay most of it back. Not sure where he got the rest but when he was leaving his house for the last time the neighbours all lined the street and cheered as he drove by.
A family friend had a small house block with trees that blocked a rich neighbours coastal view . The neighbour could have bought the block, it wasn't expensive, but waited until a holiday and had the trees cut down. Nothing was done, local police didn't want to know, going to civil court would have been too expensive and the neighbor had too much local influence. It still makes me sad and angry even though I am not directly involved but there is nothing that us "little people" can do sometimes. ( except not use the neighbors business, boycotts are our only recourse)
Nothing can be done??? boycotts?? I guess if your a p*ssy and think like that well that is why you got screwed because every one knows you will just take it. None of my neighbors ever, and I mean ever thought they could do whatever they wanted to me and nothing would happen.
In the U.S., one gets exactly as much Justice as they can afford to buy.
For a civil suite one has to find a lawyer who specializes in tree law, and they will almost always take the cases on contingency since the payouts are so large in most states. It is usually very easy to track down and prove who ordered the trees to be cut down through the tree cutter's business, and the value of the tree(s) is usually put as the replacement value of grown tree(s) of the same size.
The tree replacement value can be in the range of thousands to 100's of thousands of dollars per tree depending on the species, size, availability, and technical difficulties of replacement. I have heard of this value including the cost to move the house to access the back yard.
Then most states apply treble damages to that amount. The payouts can be in the millions of dollars for some single specialty trees, and for multiple mature trees the sky is the limit.
The lawyers who specialize in tree law salivate over such cases, since all they have to do is get the business records of the tree cutting firm to find out who paid to have the trees cut down (voluntarily or by court order), and they are almost always slam dunk cases since the tree cutter will always follow their lawyers, and most importantly, their insurance companies lawyers advice to point the finger at the person who hired them in order to avoid paying damages.
The insurance companies have the deepest pockets and the most incentive to place the liability firmly where it belongs: on the person who hired the company to cut down the trees.
I'm from Texas and I didn't think they had any trees in New Jersey.
A friend of mine had a flaky neighbor. He originally got permission to take trees on the guy's property to run power out to his property. They cut about 22 trees and the guy changed his mind. My friend immediately had the service stop cutting and off to the land of lawyers they go.
Guy wants comical amounts of money. My friend's lawyer meet with my friend and gets an idea of what trees were cut and where on a map.
They get the other guy's lawyer in and have the guy point out what trees were taken and it becomes obvious by the way he points out trees no where near where the service was cutting were taken and he wants compensation for those.
Off to court they go.
Opposing counsel screws up. Big time bad. Like suborning perjury bad. Judge figures it out and talks to my friends lawyer and lets them know what he think is going on.
Opposing counsel gets on the stand and lies about a conversation and about who pointed out what trees were damaged.
Judge pounces.
Opposing counsel has a date with the disciplinary board. Plaintiff gets an earful about lying. Case dismissed. Reasons clearly stated in detail why the decision was made.
That is different had permission to do it then owner tried to scam by tricking him into cutting the trees down either way the trees for removal should have been marked then had owner on record for him being ok with it so a lot easier to show recorded footage of consent so cannot lie and say other person forged his signature.
You explain the situation well.
Over 20 years ago my friend was standing in his office and saw a tree fall over. He owns over 100 acres and this tree was some distance from him. He went down to the trees and found a logger who claimed he was on the correct property. Once he was corrected, the Logger says: I'll just pay you for the logs". Uh, no, you trespassed and were stealing timber. My friend called the police and stopped the guy. He then called a friend with a logging truck and sold the logs as veneer wood. Had he went the civil route he'd be lucky to break even.
Depends on the state. Most states have triple damages for illegal logging and cutting down trees on other peoples property.
One article about this speculated about the eventual costs to the person who had the trees removed added up to $1.5 million for the mature replacement trees plus the costs of planting plus the cost of a road to access the planting location followed by the removal of said temporary road with landscaping.
One article I read stated that the cutters circumvented a fence to access the property to cut the trees. If so then someone knew for a fact they were trespassing.
and they cut down a tree with a no trespassing sign on it
@@drswaqqinscheckingin7210 Seriously! That's completely egregious! Someone should be going to prison for that.
the reporting of this incident is that the tree cutting company had to climb over a private fence of the land owner to access the trees to be cut so unless the offending homeowner lied to the cutters and they had no common sense to question what they did it is a problem and the potential fine for them. Both home owners are millionaires, the houses and property are valued at several million each,and these costs will not be felt too badly. The 1.5 mil cost is to replant the 32 trees putting a road down to access and maintenance to regrow the trees over decades is where the value is placed at.
As usual, Steve’s fans twigged to this story immediately, Steve saw it, and without being stumped, got to the root of the problem without branching into irrelevancies. The sap who did this should stick to his own property and not lumber onto other’s land, else he will cause his neighbors to arbor ill feelings.
I will not repine against your comments. . .
@@ericemmons3040 Woodn't you know someone would be lumbering on........I'll see myself out.Greetings from Australia.
@@RichardFelstead1949 I feel that the person who had his neighbor's trees cut down lacked a certain koala-ty of compassion for the neighbor. . . Greetings from California, USA.
I love your way with words!
My God, just _leaf_ it alone already. But yeah, I wouldn't mind seeing the guy stuffed in a _trunk,_ and taken somewhere to be _planted_ 6 feet under. Then no one would ever have to listen to the angry _bark_ of that old a-hole again. Yep, that _wood_ suit me just _pine_ and dandy.
There was a case on Cape Cod where some rich butthole cut down his neighbors tree because it blocked his view of the water. He did it when the tree owner was off island for a season. The judge ordered him to find and replace a tree exactly that size and age at his cost.
In California we have what are called Valley Oaks, primarily in the Central Valley. They’re a protected species. You can cut one down if it’s diseased or a danger, AFTER going through all the legal hoops to get the permit. Developers have to design their plans around these trees. Cut one down without a permit, or by accident, even God’s not going to help you.
😂
Should be like that for all wooded lands. Come to Western New York. Over development and logging has ruined this entire area.
The neighbor with the missing trees, can now own’s the neighbor’s property and assets after the law suit.
I've seen a number of similar cases over the years, and invariably it turns out that the person doing the illegal cutting is doing it for the view, rarely just illegal logging.
Steve should invite an attorney that specializes in tree law to discuss this. That whole area of law is wild and I support it.
There was a case in Pennsylvania where a large truck ran into and destroyed an old oak tree on a residential property. Replacement would have been nearly $100,000. The court awarded only $5,000 for diminished value to the property.
Not good enough. It's not about what something means to the average person- it's about what it means to you.
Crooked judge.
@@P_RO_ Not really, or there would be a lot of million-dollar puppies.
Haber's a CEO. His house is worth upwards $1.5 million. Considering the age of the mature, slow growing hardwoods, the fact that those trees will never be replaced during the plaintiff's lifetime and the defendant's apparent ill intent, I'd be settling for nothing less than $2 million in damages.
My house is 1000 feet from the road and the entire property is dense oak trees. The power company has 3 poles and an easement along my driveway to bring power to my home. During a storm, one of my trees fell over the power line and knocked out power. It stretched the cables and bent the weather head above my power meter. I didn't know if this was going to be a legal issue with the power company, so I contacted my Attorney. The power company Immediately brought heavy equipment and removed the fallen tree and corrected the line tension... but I had to cover the cost of an electrician and roofer to fix the weather head.
Guy down the street from me snuck over and cut down a neighbors tree while they were on vacation because it blocked the view to... another neighbors back yard. Yeah, weird. Around $50K in fines and restitution worth of weird. New tree blocks the view just as much.
When it's a story involving "Tree law" it's going to be golden... This stuff can quickly rank up in to the 100.000s depending on the number of trees, how old they are and what species.
I worked for a company that was required to plant trees that were equal to the circumference of a tree they cut down, while next door an entire forest was razed to make way for a housing development. I never could understand that one.
Hey Steve, triple damages for cutting down trees not on your property, is also known as triple-stumpage. Out here in the pacific northwest, people's republic of Washington, triple-stumpage is well known, for obvious reasons. People love to try the old oop's game, and get hit hard with triple-stumpage. Common excuses thought we were 20 foot from the property line. Thought we were on our property, etc.. Theirs's no thought, when in doubt, hire the surveyor, it's much cheaper.
Each type / specie's of tree are valued differently. depending on the tree let's say it's a cedar tree (big difference between low-land cedar, and say mountainous cedar. (Lowland cedar tends to have much more branches, and as such, is valued lower at say per 1000 board feet, than highland / mountainous cedar, which is much more desirous because less knots in the wood.)
Paradise CA had an ordinance making it extremely difficult to cut any trees in the city.
The town burned to the ground a few years ago. DECADES after I thought it would because they’re in the middle of the forest and in old fire country.
There is also a sentimental value to trees. If they were planted by his great great great grandfather, or a deceased loved one, the value of the trees greatly increases.
Wow that is pretty bold to cut down 32 trees on a neighbors property without their permission just so they can have a view of NYC! What was going through their head to think that was a good idea and would not be met without fines / a lawsuit?! I'd want that neigbor to return it back the way it was at whatever cost!
It’s 2023, I can lookup the owner of any parcel in the United States in about 2 minutes. It would then take a crew MAYBE 15 minutes a day to mark boundaries using GPS everyday they are working near the edge of the customer’s property. The fact that it is so easy to confirm you are in the right spot should automatically invalidate the defense “I guess we wondered onto the adjacent property”.
I hope with all my heart for this horrible person to get the full length of the law up his butt on this one. Honestly, the contractors deserve it too for going through with it. If they were willing to do this, I'd be worried what shady things they did on previous jobs.
Frankly he should go to prison as this was breaking and entering, vandalism, and theft by conversion.
Something I read in a legal book ( Never was a lawyer or law student) was a crime can also be a tort. In this case, there are 2 punishments for the same crime, one was the civil crime of cutting down the trees without a permit and the other one was the criminal act of cutting down the trees.
Yes, this is how OJ Simpson was successfully sued for huge damages for murdering Nicole Simpson and friend, even though the felony case was lost because the evidence was mishandled so he couldn't be convicted of the felony.
I do not need a permit to cut down any tree on my property. However in the back of my property there is a woodland easement. It runs 26 foot wide into my property from the property pins and 105 foot from pin to pin. I can not cut any living tree down in that area even though I own it. If the trees are dead, I can take pictures of them to my codes enforcer agent. He/she will then issue a permit to cut them down. There is no fee. I had seven dead ash trees cut down last year, two were in the easement. The company arborist signed off the trees were dead too.
Hard to believe NJ doesn't have higher penalties for cutting any trees down. The last I knew the garden state required you to have an arborist to come to your property just to tell you what limbs you can and can't remove from a tree on your own property. I'm commercial buildings they tell you you. Have to plant trees as part of a construction project. And if you think that is a violation of your Rights, Paramus NJ forces businesses to have an American flag flying out front on a flag pole
The person who had the trees cut down wanted too look out his mansion window and see the water and the NYC skyline, so he had his neighbors trees that obstructed his view cut down. Talk about entitlement!!! I hope he gets raked over the coals. These were old growth trees that were 80-100 ft tall or taller.
lol 100 years isn't old growth anywhere on earth, I have a tree in my yard that is easily 1000+ years old.
@@drswaqqinscheckingin7210 I didn't say 100 years, I said 100 ft.
@@JamesPerk-h3n years/feet it's all the same.
My neighbor cut down all the trees at the top of a hill behind my house so he can see the lake… hill couldn’t retain water as well after he cut them down…he admitted it. Court, sided with him.
In my state you get 3 times the current value and if it's not what's considered fully grown they estimate the full grown value and you get 3 times that in future value plus replanting land and lawn damage plus criminal fines
I just cut down 2 weedy bushes that obscured the view in both directions at the end of our road. The town won't do it and so I've been taking care of the problem for 10_years. I've got 5 drivers and don't want any of us to die because we can't see oncoming traffic.
My parents owned 50 rural acres in the Sierra foothills. He came home to find his cows were at the river, several miles away. When he checked and entire barbed wire fence bordering the neighbor was missing!
Fence law can be almost like tree law.
If this happened in the UK the person who had the trees cut down would be fully liable for the replacement of the trees with trees of the same age of those removed, and would have to hand over the timber value of the trees removed.
I know woman who had some of her neighbor's pines cut down. She was from Oklahoma and knew how quickly storms drop them, and with her new house in the way she wasn't happy, so she negotiated with the neighbors on both sides and paid them a fair price for their pines, leaving the numerous other trees. Everyone happy now :)
I know a rich man who bought lakefront property where the Army Corps of Engineers controlled the first 100ft of the shoreline. You're not allowed to cut any trees down there no exceptions. He paid someone to cut all the trees down there while he attended a conference on the other coast claiming it must have been one of his enemies who did it. He lost everything and went to jail for fraud shortly after that so I don't know the outcome of the tree litigation as he lost that property too.
Decades ago, a neighbor decided to invade our property. He began cutting down a 12 foot deep swathe of bushy plants, including many I had purchased and planted. This area ran along our road line, property frontage for the 1 lane gravel road.
I arrived home to find him merrily cutting away. Because of the land slope, this area worked as a privacy shield for our front deck. I was furious! He said he thought it would "look nice" if our home front matched his. WTF! We lived at the end of the road (cul de sac) so he didn't even have to see our wild area at all! Words were spoken (by me), never, never ever do this again. My husband wasn't pleased, either. Not lovely trees, of course, but our property, nonetheless.
A few years later, the same neighbor was burning wood refuse on his land, thought the fire was out, and left to go shopping. The wind whipped it up, and the Forestry people said at least nine homes could have burned down. Including ours and his. Plus the side of our small mountain would have been ruined. The Forestry professionals were very angry. This could have been a dangerous and spreading wildfire situation, particularly with the winds. They had to bring pumper trucks loaded with water, as it was a rural area, lacking fire hydrants. Just lucky I came home at the right time and called 911. I was trying to defend our house with a garden hose, as the fire burned closer and closer.
We live surrounded by trees on several acres of quite lovely forested waterfront. The only real threat to our trees is another hurricane; the last one knocked down about 200 'significant' trees, and it took several years to clean up the twisted mess. Thankfully 200 is merely a small fraction of our total. Which is nice.
Back around 2003, there was a case in Alpine, NJ, where a homeowner decided to clear-cut a parcel of land in a state park that abutted his property. He intended to build a private tennis court on the land! He settled with the state for $2.7 million, probation, and community service. He could have gotten 10 years under NJ law.
I personally knew two individuals in Muskegon County Michigan who were jailed for doing this. One was a logger unintentionally crossing the line and the other was an excavation contractor who didn't care.
A thousand dollar fine per tree for a rich person is chump change. When you cut down a mature tree you are taking the enjoyment away from the beauty of that tree for a generation or more. I hope the person that ordered those trees removed is fined significant amounts of money.