Tree service looses lawsuit; claims of arborist certification not true.

[pdqdl]

Anybody can sue you, whether it's justified or not. The question more importantly is whether you can defend the suit. In my opinion, if you identify the indicators you have seen, and define the logic behind your decision, even if your analysis is wrong, then your accountability if minimized. After all, the only way to be 100% certain that a tree doesn't have defects that could make it dangerous would be to do a complete destructive sample. Every field, such as engineering, makes assumptions based on observation, experience and experimentation.

There is a big difference between doing a good job of identifying indicators and lying your ash off to get a sale. Playing a game of "cover your ash to avoid loosing in court" won't help much if you are still a lying fraud out to rob the customer.

Clearly, the judge figured they done wrong, and he had all the available facts.

I don't ever worry about lawsuits. I just do the right thing, tell people the facts that I know, those that I don't know, and I never sell any tree work just to make money. I sell good service and expertise to make money, and sometimes that entitles me to collect for tree work performed.

 

[ropensaddle]

There is a big difference between doing a good job of identifying indicators and lying your ash off to get a sale. Playing a game of "cover your ash to avoid loosing in court" won't help much if you are still a lying fraud out to rob the customer.

Clearly, the judge figured they done wrong, and he had all the available facts.

I don't ever worry about lawsuits. I just do the right thing, tell people the facts that I know, those that I don't know, and I never sell any tree work just to make money. I sell good service and expertise to make money, and sometimes that entitles me to collect for tree work performed.

+1 but do wander if one failed if they could hold you liable?
A healthy tree pruned correctly to ansi standards should become
their liability not the tree company? I am sure if one failed it would
probably end up in court and I have thought about it a time or two!

 

[osb_mail]

It seems that the homeowners acted very quickly . Tree that meant so much one minute there getting a bid for removing a limb the next they are O.K. a 7000 dollars removal from a company they found in the yellow book .I bet they wanted to have it cut down anyway they just did not want to pay so they found this shady guy cartwright and wasted his fuel ,labor , and time . I want to meet cartwright sales man must be good to sale someone on 7000 dollar without another opinion if it was were I lived homeowners would have on there 10th bid saying 3 grand sounds a little high to me .I wish they had a video of the actual bid now that would be interesting .I think in the end comes down to shady home owner (or very uneducated) meets shady lying tree service lier loses end of story .

 

[Dadatwins]

It seems that the homeowners acted very quickly . Tree that meant so much one minute there getting a bid for removing a limb the next they are O.K. a 7000 dollars removal from a company they found in the yellow book .I bet they wanted to have it cut down anyway they just did not want to pay so they found this shady guy cartwright and wasted his fuel ,labor , and time . I want to meet cartwright sales man must be good to sale someone on 7000 dollar without another opinion if it was were I lived homeowners would have on there 10th bid saying 3 grand sounds a little high to me .I wish they had a video of the actual bid now that would be interesting .I think in the end comes down to shady home owner (or very uneducated) meets shady lying tree service lier loses end of story .

I don't think the homeowner acted quickly at all, they said that they were going by the opinion of the 'expert' and had the work done. They probably should have recieved a few other opinions but the salesman played into the fears anyone has of insects and a huge tree near the house. I can hear the sales speech, "we are here now, the tree could fall at any time, it could take weeks to get someone else out here ect." Agreed the homeowner was uneducated about the tree but isn't most of the public? Similiar to going to a doctor for a backache, the public puts the trust in the doctor to fix the problem. I am amazed that the company was going to charge them $1200 to remove one limb, so to the homeowner 7k for the whole tree probably was not that much of a stretch. I wonder if any other customers of this tree service have started looking at their bills and had second thoughts about the work.

 

[smokechase II]

Where is a certified lawyer when you need 'em?

I don't get it.
Why didn't the neighbor sue for mental stress? (Shotgun both parties.)

This is America, seriously.

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And the SPCA? Society for the Preservation of Carpenter Ants? Where were they?

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Real simple, the court ruled correctly.

 

[M.D. Vaden]

I agree that the company shouldn't have lied about it's certification but if the homeowner signed a contract to have the tree removed and then didn't pay...well, seems that's unacceptable as well. What if the guy was a CA and had an error in judgment regarding the tree's health? Would the homeowner still not have to pay him for the work done? Shouldn't the responsibility be on the homeowner to get a second opinion before hiring someone? If the tree was really THAT important to me you'd be dern sure I'd get a second opinion before I let someone hack it down. Almost seems like the HO is looking for some free work here.

If I read the article right, they did not pay to have a tree removed.

They paid to have a defective tree removed.

So it seems that the guy did not do what was expected. He removed an apparently healthy tree.

 

[osb_mail]

yeah but some say it was healthy some say it was not :monkey: