After 11 years in business I got sued. The trial went down last week and took 2 days. It was nerve racking to say the least!
We were hired by a residential customer to prune several trees and take down one tree in mid 2008. The removal was a Gleditsia triacanthos armed (honey locust with thorns) and it was growing in an old fence row. We had a signed contract with the client. As the foreman was preparing to drop the 21" DBH log the neighbor went nuts. Cops came and we stopped! Turns out it was the neighbor's tree and they hate each other! They had 30+ years of hate built up between them.
2 weeks later we got sued for 75K (25K for the tree and triple damages as it was a reckless act). Nightmare!!! The case got dismissed in 2009 on a technicality (their star witness had a heroine warrant) the day before trial. They sued again in early 2010. My insurance company has paid for the entire defense. I have been to court and depositions over the last 2 years at least 10x's. I probably spent $1,000 in payroll for employees testifying not to mention the lost revenue from being stuck in court.
Here is the important part... We have a terms and conditions page on the back of our contact. In that we have an "ownership clause" it reads:
"The customer warrants that all trees, plant material and property upon which work will be performed are either owned by the customer or permission for the work has been obtained by the owner. Tree Care Inc. is to be held harmless from all claims for damages resulting from failure to obtain such permission."
The verdict came in today!!! The clause held up and the Judge released us of all liability!!!!! The people we were working for got a judgment against them for $1,340.00. They offered the plaintiff $3000.00 before the trial.
I am so happy this clause was in our contract and that it was signed! Overall this has been an awful experience. I am happy with the result, but it was no fun getting to this point.
My attorney asked me if we had changed any thing as a result of this and I said no. Short of doing a survey before starting the job, there wasn't much we could have done different!
We were hired by a residential customer to prune several trees and take down one tree in mid 2008. The removal was a Gleditsia triacanthos armed (honey locust with thorns) and it was growing in an old fence row. We had a signed contract with the client. As the foreman was preparing to drop the 21" DBH log the neighbor went nuts. Cops came and we stopped! Turns out it was the neighbor's tree and they hate each other! They had 30+ years of hate built up between them.
2 weeks later we got sued for 75K (25K for the tree and triple damages as it was a reckless act). Nightmare!!! The case got dismissed in 2009 on a technicality (their star witness had a heroine warrant) the day before trial. They sued again in early 2010. My insurance company has paid for the entire defense. I have been to court and depositions over the last 2 years at least 10x's. I probably spent $1,000 in payroll for employees testifying not to mention the lost revenue from being stuck in court.
Here is the important part... We have a terms and conditions page on the back of our contact. In that we have an "ownership clause" it reads:
"The customer warrants that all trees, plant material and property upon which work will be performed are either owned by the customer or permission for the work has been obtained by the owner. Tree Care Inc. is to be held harmless from all claims for damages resulting from failure to obtain such permission."
The verdict came in today!!! The clause held up and the Judge released us of all liability!!!!! The people we were working for got a judgment against them for $1,340.00. They offered the plaintiff $3000.00 before the trial.
I am so happy this clause was in our contract and that it was signed! Overall this has been an awful experience. I am happy with the result, but it was no fun getting to this point.
My attorney asked me if we had changed any thing as a result of this and I said no. Short of doing a survey before starting the job, there wasn't much we could have done different!
