tree service damaged my tree!

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he was probably thinking "well, this guy is the cheapest, who cares if he's a felon or not".....lol.

Pretty sure he didn't do a background check. And yeah, I'm sure he was thinking price when he hired the guy.
 
Are there any free legal aid options available to you? Don't forget that the contractor was working at the request of the neighbor. That makes him an "agent" of the neighbor. Consider going after both of them so you can collect from the neighbors homeowners insurance. Then it's up to the insurance company to pursue the jerk contractor.

I'm not an atty, but did handle auto and insurance claims for about thirty years. Just something to consider. Especially if the neighbor feels bad about your tree. Remember, it was the neighbors tree and the neighbor selected the contractor. One letter from an atty should get the ball rolling for you.
 
SD,
I'm not going to bring the neighbor into it. I know he is ultimately responsible, but it's not worth it to me.
 
SD,
I'm not going to bring the neighbor into it. I know he is ultimately responsible, but it's not worth it to me.

I would likely feel the same as your going to live by him, however; I would talk with him just so he knows. Likely any action taken toward the fly by would get re -directed toward your neighbor for hiring a loser. I would like to see that for my industry but would not help your relations to neighbor and quite possibly just cost you more. Imho!
 
"Why choose to keep a tree that will be a liability in the future when you can have a new tree at the expense of the person responsible for the damage in the first place?"

Because it would take many years for replacement to get as big.

Becuase if the undamaged trunk was pruned and retained, the liability would be acceptably low.

Because rb has other big trees and does not lose sleep over them.
 
Seer is our resident tree hugger but he is a great arborist. I think he loves trees more than people though:monkey: Seer don't take it wrong pal jmo.

I've met Guy, and he's actually been out on the limb of that tree that no longer exists!
 
I've met Guy, and he's actually been out on the limb of that tree that no longer exists!

Maybe its his fault, go after him too.


All joking aside I wish you luck with making it right, that imbecile should have to pay.
 
Not sure what you mean by this. That is my biggest tree.
Thought there bigger ones in back--must be neighbors'.

I was only saying that you did not seem like an arborphobe with a low risk tolerance.

ropen for the most part you may be right but don't tell anyone, okay?
 
from the pics its hard to tell but how much of the broken stem was over the property line prior to it being broken/removed?
 
rb if you want to go the appraisal-small claims route, pm me. It won't make you rich but it may get them to be a bit more careful.
 
I think you've got it figured out. All I see for options is

1. go after a guy with nothing to lose (and nothing for you to get from him).

2. go after your neighbor's insurance company (you can tell your neighbor it's just business, nothing personal, he may or may not see it that way).

3. go after your insurance company (and they'll probably subrogate against his insurance and you'll be back at option #2, but you can blame your insurance company and say it's out of your hands, you tried to handle it without dragging him into it but your insco had other ideas).
 
The tree care provider should have owned up and taken responsibility like any other professional would have. It's too bad about your tree. Good luck with getting everything squared away with that guy. -Josh
 
I think you've got it figured out. All I see for options is

1. go after a guy with nothing to lose (and nothing for you to get from him).

2. go after your neighbor's insurance company (you can tell your neighbor it's just business, nothing personal, he may or may not see it that way).

3. go after your insurance company (and they'll probably subrogate against his insurance and you'll be back at option #2, but you can blame your insurance company and say it's out of your hands, you tried to handle it without dragging him into it but your insco had other ideas).


While I don't disagree with this assessment, they all really can be boiled down to a much simpler choice:


  1. Eat it and shut up.
  2. Fight.


How you fight is the subject of taxmantoo's post. But really, you have to first make the choice to either roll over or fight.
 
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