Homeowners - Tree Damage

[pr9425]

What is the name of your state? Florida
We had a large, live tree, taken down by severe winds. It went into the neighbor's property damaging their fence, and rested on the ground there. We notified our insurance carrier. He said that the tree is not covered because it is wind damage. He said damage to the neighbor's property is covered by their homeowner's. Sort of like Act of God. He said that you are not liable for an Act of God. We told the neighbor we would share the cost of the tree removal, however, they don't want to and will be consulting a lawyer. Since we have been informed that any of our neighbor's trees that would come down into our property would be our responsibility, we do not wish to pay the full cost and we are financially unable to pay the full cost. Are we liable.

 

[HomeGuru]

Yes you are so start acting like a good neighbor.

 

[RunningOnEmpty]

I disagree that the poster is liable, unless they were somehow negligent.

If the tree was live, healthy and properly maintained and high winds (an act of God) was the sole and proximate cause of the tree falling onto the neighbor's property, then the poster was not negligent, nor liable for the damaged property.

In any event, the poster should have their insurance company handle it. If they determine that the poster was somehow negligent, they will pay for the damage to neighbor's property. If they determine poster was not negligent, they will deny the claim.

 

[pr9425]

Thank you for your response. We received a letter from our insurance carrier explaining exactly what you said. The insurance claims adjuster also explained that to our neighbor as well. So we began to remove the tree. We asked our tree man to ask them again if they wished to have their part removed, and we would split the cost. Their attitude was no way were they paying to have it removed and if we didn't do it they would cut up the branches that were on their side and throw them all over our property. I have a beautifully maintained wildlife area at the back of my property, I would be devasted if it was destroyed when we were not home. Rather than take a chance, we paid for the entire removal of the tree. Our tree man was kind enough to take pity on us and took another $100 off the price of the removal of the entire tree. So its done, even though we were originally perfectly within our rights.