- Location
- San Francisco and Bangkok
Three times last year, three different tree service owners called me for help because they had been served. Don, what do I do? I've never been sued before, do I need to get an attorney? I don't know, show me the paperwork. And when they did I just cringed and felt hopeless to help, the neighbor had made it look really bad, had a damning case and was asking for $30,000 to $40,000 compensation.
I'm not a legal expert and thank God I've never been sued myself, so I couldn't do much except tell them what I would do and to try and contact the neighbor directly, apologize and appeal for negotiation. In each case it was face to face communication that worked and the case was dropped. Communication is a beautiful thing and they should have used that in the first place in order to stay out of trouble.
In each case it was a neighbor of their customer who was suing them for trespass, property damage and loss of privacy. In each case they trusted their customer to contact the neighbor and get permission to prune the neighbor's trees. In each case the neighbor said okay, no problem, you can go ahead. In each case the tree service owner or foreman had not verified the permission to enter and perform work face to face with the neighbor, or get it in writing. In each case the pruning was on the heavy handed side of the 25% rule and responsible professionalism and the neighbor was pissed that it was done without talking with them.
Litigation in California is at a horrible, scary level. I live in fear of getting sued for chemical trespass, because now someone can sue if you get any chemical substance on their property, even if no persons are contacted and no harm is done. But also, some people really love their trees and are sensitive and emotional about anybody cutting on them. I would be too, and have have lost it in screamin "tree rage" when this has happened to me.
When I owned a tree service I learned to give a little respect, protect myself, and always walk next door or around to the back yard neighbor and knock on the door. Identify myself and tell them that I am working for their neighbor and I have been asked to prune their tree, and explain exactly what I intend to do, how much I intend to cut. They often would say, oh yeah, my customer had already talked to them and I could go ahead and do the work. But sometimes it saved my ass and they wanted to come out and see exactly what I was going to cut and did I need to go on their property and did I have insurance.
It's a pain and you really don't want to take time out from productivity for chatting up the neighbor, but if you don't you could be setting yourself up for a real bad day. Only a couple of times has doing this really screwed me up and I had to postpone the job in order to submit licensing and insurance documents and get written permission. But on the other side, in many cases it got me additional work from the neighbor or referrals.
Usually neighbors are real cooperative, especially when they sense that you care and that you know what you're doing and will be conservative in cutting their trees. But this is just a heads up, CYA and communicate. And if any doubt , get written permission to enter and perform work , and take the time to spell out exactly what the scope of work is on what specific trees and if you need to enter the neighbor property or not to do it.
Work safe and work smart and Thank God For Trees. Don
I'm not a legal expert and thank God I've never been sued myself, so I couldn't do much except tell them what I would do and to try and contact the neighbor directly, apologize and appeal for negotiation. In each case it was face to face communication that worked and the case was dropped. Communication is a beautiful thing and they should have used that in the first place in order to stay out of trouble.
In each case it was a neighbor of their customer who was suing them for trespass, property damage and loss of privacy. In each case they trusted their customer to contact the neighbor and get permission to prune the neighbor's trees. In each case the neighbor said okay, no problem, you can go ahead. In each case the tree service owner or foreman had not verified the permission to enter and perform work face to face with the neighbor, or get it in writing. In each case the pruning was on the heavy handed side of the 25% rule and responsible professionalism and the neighbor was pissed that it was done without talking with them.
Litigation in California is at a horrible, scary level. I live in fear of getting sued for chemical trespass, because now someone can sue if you get any chemical substance on their property, even if no persons are contacted and no harm is done. But also, some people really love their trees and are sensitive and emotional about anybody cutting on them. I would be too, and have have lost it in screamin "tree rage" when this has happened to me.
When I owned a tree service I learned to give a little respect, protect myself, and always walk next door or around to the back yard neighbor and knock on the door. Identify myself and tell them that I am working for their neighbor and I have been asked to prune their tree, and explain exactly what I intend to do, how much I intend to cut. They often would say, oh yeah, my customer had already talked to them and I could go ahead and do the work. But sometimes it saved my ass and they wanted to come out and see exactly what I was going to cut and did I need to go on their property and did I have insurance.
It's a pain and you really don't want to take time out from productivity for chatting up the neighbor, but if you don't you could be setting yourself up for a real bad day. Only a couple of times has doing this really screwed me up and I had to postpone the job in order to submit licensing and insurance documents and get written permission. But on the other side, in many cases it got me additional work from the neighbor or referrals.
Usually neighbors are real cooperative, especially when they sense that you care and that you know what you're doing and will be conservative in cutting their trees. But this is just a heads up, CYA and communicate. And if any doubt , get written permission to enter and perform work , and take the time to spell out exactly what the scope of work is on what specific trees and if you need to enter the neighbor property or not to do it.
Work safe and work smart and Thank God For Trees. Don
