Case of the Day – Thursday, December 4, 2025

Posted on December 4, 2025 by TLRoot tagged.

A NICE DAY FOR A FROLIC

Seems like not so long ago (but it was over 20 years now) that a class of sharp-witted grade school students at Western Reserve Elementary School asked us a question, one which seemed simple but is deceptively complex. Inquisitive kids that they are, they wanted to know whether it would be an act of theft for the owner of an apple tree to go onto neighboring property to retrieve apples that had fallen from the owner’s tree.

Turns out it’s a darn good question. Not much has been decided on this, requiring us to read an 1870 New York case for an answer. In that decision, a logger lost his logs in a flood. They came to rest on the riverbank, making a mess of the riverbank owner’s land. A fast talker convinced the log owner to let him negotiate with the landowner, pay the guy’s damages, and retrieve the logs. He made a deal with the landowner and hauled the logs away, but he never made the promised payment. The Court ordered the logger to pay the damages, holding that the owner of personal property that ends up on the lands of another has a choice: abandon the personal property and have no liability to the landowner, or retrieve the personal property and pay for any damages caused by the property’s coming to rest.

Of interest to our intrepid 6th graders (after whether someone is going to help pay for their lunches) was this: the Court noted in passing that it was settled law that one whose fruit falls or is blown upon his neighbor’s ground doesn’t lose ownership, but instead “may lawfully enter upon the premises to recapture his property.”

There you go, sixth graders! Who says adults don’t listen to you? And as for the rest of us, isn’t it curious how contrary the holding is to the Massachusetts Rule of self-help, which was handed down some 55 years later? At the same time, isn’t it interesting how consistent the New York court’s decision is with the North Dakota Supreme Court opinion in Herring v. Lisbon, that the portion of the tree overhanging a neighbor’s land still belongs to the tree’s owner, thus imposing on the owner a duty to ensure that the tree does not cause harm.

Sheldon v. Sherman, 3 Hand 484, 42 N.Y. 484, 1870 WL 7733 (Ct. App. N.Y. 1870), 1 Am.Rep. 569. Sherman’s logs were swept away in a spring flood on the Hudson River, coming to rest on Sheldon’s property where — Sheldon complained — they caused significant damage. A third party, Mayo Pond, told Sherman he’d pay Sheldon’s damages, have the logs cut into lumber and deliver the boards to Sherman for a set fee. But then the double-dealing Pond told Sheldon he was an agent for Sherman in settling the damages and that Sherman would pay the agreed-upon damages. This was news to Sherman, who refused to pay the damages because he already had a deal with Pond that Pond would pay. Landowner Sheldon sued log owner Sherman for the agreed-upon damages, and the trial court found for Sheldon. Sherman appealed.

Held: Sherman was up a creek without a paddle. The Court of Appeals — New York’s highest court — held that Sherman had a choice. One whose property ends up on the lands of another by an inevitable accident (such as a flood), without the owner’s fault or negligence, may elect either (1) to abandon the property, in which case he is not liable to the landowner for any injury caused by the property; or (2) to reclaim it, in which case he is obligated to make good to the landowner the damages caused by the property. Here, once Pond agreed with Sherman that he’d settle with the landowner and retrieve the logs. Pond’s authority from Sherman to remove the logs was clear, whatever his right to promise payment might have been. Thus, the law implied the existence of a promise by the log owner to pay damages.

The waters receded, but the logs were everywhere …

Of interest in the decision is the Court’s discussion of what it called “a large class of cases” in which injury is suffered by a party, but the law gives no redress. The Court said, “If a tree growing upon the land of one is blown down upon the premises of another, and in its fall injures his shrubbery, or his house, or his person, he has no redress against him upon whose land the tree grew. If one builds a dam of such strength that it will give protection against all ordinary floods, the occurrence of an extraordinary flood by which it is carried away, and its remains are lodged upon the premises of the owner below, or by means whereof the dam below is carried away, or the mill building is destroyed, gives no claim against the builder of the dam.” In this case, the Court said, the logs were carried down the river and deposited on Sheldon’s land without fault on the defendant’s part. Thus, Sherman was not responsible for damages, and any promise he might have made to Sheldon to make it good would be unenforceable.

If Sherman chose to abandon his property, he had the right to do so, and no one could call him to account. He was not compelled, however, to abandon it, but had the right to reclaim it. The Court said the case was “like one whose fruit falls or is blown upon his neighbor’s ground, the ownership is not thereby lost, but the owner may lawfully enter upon the premises to recapture his property. When he does so reclaim or recapture, his liability to make good the damage done by his property arises. He then becomes responsible. Before he can reclaim or recapture the property thus astray, justice and equity demand that he should make good the injury caused by its deposit and its continuance.”

– Tom Root

Case of the Day – Tuesday, December 2, 2025

Posted on December 2, 2025 by TLRoot tagged.

IN THE VAST WORLD OF LAW…

… there’s plenty of half-vast lawyering going on.

I found myself thinking that in connection with a case I was reviewing yesterday, one that had nothing to do with trees (but a lot to do with plants, those being Cannabis sativa, and involving trucks and conspiracies and the pesky Controlled Substances Act).

Potheads or not, I thought, the defendants deserved better lawyering than they got. There’s a lot of that substandard, just-barely-enough-to-prevent-a-malpractice-suit representation, not only in the criminal courts but in civil practice as well.

Today’s case is an excellent example of phone-it-in representation on both sides of the courtroom. The plaintiff’s lawyer seems to simply have loaded a civil action blunderbuss and fired away. It was evident that the defendant’s tree roots were destroying the boundary wall by pushing against it from the defendant’s side of the edifice. Therefore, the roots were located on the defendant’s property. So why would the lawyer include a trespass count? Any first-year law student could tell you that the roots were not on his client’s land, and being on someone else’s land without permission is the sine qua non of trespass.

And before the defendant starts to feel smug about the plaintiff’s pleading miscue, she should look at her counsel’s performance. That lawyer spent the defendant’s money on a couple of experts, who may or may not have rendered solid, helpful opinions. We’ll never know – because the defendant’s lawyer did not bother to put the expert’s opinions in affidavit form – a pure rookie mistake.

The defendant might have walked away from this lawsuit relatively inexpensively by getting the plaintiff’s entire complaint dismissed. But she never had a chance to make her substantive argument because her lawyer overlooked something everyone knows – that statements by experts and witnesses must be in affidavit form.

Half-vast lawyering all around…

1212 Ocean Ave. Housing Development Corp. v. Brunatti, 50 A.D.3d 1110, 857 N.Y.S.2d 649 (Sup.Ct.N.Y. 2008). 1212 Ocean Avenue Housing Development Corp., a soulless, faceless corporation, if ever there was one, owned property next to Debbie Brunatti’s place. The two properties are separated by a 10-foot-high retaining wall built in 1924 when an apartment building was constructed on 1212’s premises. The heartless corporate suits alleged that an elm tree planted on Debbie’s property more than 40 years ago grew over time so that its trunk came to rest atop the retaining wall. The roots of this tree also damaged the retaining wall, causing it to crack and curve. In December 2004, the New York City Department of Buildings issued a summons to 1212, requiring it to fix the defective retaining wall. Shortly later, 1212 sued Debbie to recover damages for nuisance, trespass, and negligence.

Debbie had the tree removed about four months after being sued. She argued, among other things, that the defective condition of the retaining wall had not been caused by tree roots, and that 1212 could not maintain an action for damages because it had not engaged in self-help to remedy the situation. The trial court denied Debbie’s motion.

Debbie appealed.

Held: The trial court properly denied Debbie’s motion to dismiss for nuisance and negligence.

The unsworn reports from two engineers she submitted in support of her application were insufficient to establish, as a matter of law, that the tree roots did not damage 1212’s retaining wall. “Furthermore,” the court said, “while it has been recognized that a property owner may resort to self-help to remove tree roots encroaching upon his or her property and that this may constitute a sufficient remedy in some circumstances, the defendant failed to demonstrate that self-help would have been practicable here, where it is undisputed that the tree roots rested entirely on her property.”

However, the Court said, the trial judge should have granted that part of Debbie’s application for summary judgment on the trespass count. Since the tree roots rested entirely upon Debbie’s property, there was no intentional intrusion or entry onto the 1212’s property, which could constitute trespass.

– Tom Root

Case of the Day – Tuesday, October 7, 2025

Posted on October 7, 2025 by TLRoot tagged.

TRADITION

Sometimes, state law leaves a landowner suffering from invading roots and branches from a neighbor’s tree with no remedy but a chainsaw. As we all know, the Massachusetts Rule – alive and well in a number of states – lets a property owner trim offending branches and roots up to the property line, but that’s it: no lawsuits, no damage awards, no injunctions, and no meddling lawyers.

It’s the traditional approach.

Other states follow variants of the Hawaii Rule and let a property owner sue when a neighboring tree becomes a nuisance, causing “sensible harm,” a weird expression apparently meaning something more than falling leaves and twigs.

Then there’s the approach adopted by a Florida court of appeals of few words. In the Sunshine State, a ficus tree near a landowner’s property boundary line was wreaking havoc on the neighbor’s house. The ficus is a very old tree, maybe 60 million years old (and possibly as old as 80 million years). It features aerial roots and is pollinated by a single species of wasp known as a fig wasp.

The owner of the tree was General Engineering Enterprises, Inc., obviously a big, faceless corporation with oodles of money. So Mike sued, asking for money damages. Why not? Everyone knows big mega-corporations are nothing but ATM machines, and you activate the cash-dispensing feature by walking through the courthouse door.

The Court was unsympathetic. Mike, you have a saw? Use it, man. Concerned that to permit Mike to get free money because branches from the ficus were overhanging his property might work in derogation of the time-honored principle of self-help, the Court of Appeals followed the Massachusetts Rule, despite the fact that the opinion candidly admitted that most other courts seemed to be headed toward the Hawaii Rule.

Ah, tradition!

Richmond v. General Engineering Enterprises, Inc., 454 So. 2d 16 (Ct.App. Fla. 1984). Mike Richmond sued General Engineering Enterprises, Inc., for money damages based on the company’s “negligence” in permitting branches of a ficus tree growing on its property to extend over and onto Mike’s home lot. The trial court wasted no time in dismissing Mike’s complaint.

Mike, obviously no reader of this blog, appealed.

Held: The Massachusetts Rule prevailed.

While there is substantial authority to the contrary, the Court said, “which may indeed represent the majority rule… we agree with those decisions which hold that in view of the undoubted right of the landowner himself to cut off intruding roots or branches at the property line, no such action may be maintained.”

The Court said that letting Mike proceed with his lawsuit to redress a claimed wrong “which might otherwise be obviated by the time-honored remedy of self-help would represent a wasteful and needless use of the judicial system.”

– Tom Root

Case of the Day – Tuesday, September 30, 2025

Posted on September 30, 2025 by TLRoot tagged.

A RATHER SURPRISING HOLDING FROM A DELAWARE TRIAL COURT

In this tree law gig, I read a lot of cases. After a while, reading between the lines gets a lot easier.

Today’s case, which I decided was nothing special, was just about some neighbors who were over-the-top haters of the defendant. The defendant seems like a guy whose crime was that he apparently had the effrontery to move in next door and then fix up the place.

The trial court’s long opinion had flushed away most of the plaintiffs’ breathless and frantic complaint – and “flushed” is the correct verb for most of the claims the tin-foil-hatted neighbors made against the defendant– when I got to their claim that defendant Bill Collison had “damaged a maple tree near the property line by shaving the trees directly up from the property line.”

“Holy Massachusetts Rule!” I muttered to myself. Everyone knows that this claim should be summarily tossed, because the Massachusetts Rule is as universally accepted as is turkey at Thanksgiving. Assuming Bill did “shave” the tree at the property line, that’s perfectly within his rights.

Much to my shock, the Court disagreed. It held that the right of “self-help” trimming of encroaching branches is not established in Delaware, and if this court was going to do it, it would not do it on summary judgment. It became obvious to me that whatever else Judge Calvin Scott, Jr., of Newark, Delaware, reads with his morning coffee, it sure isn’t this blog.

It did not take long to find reason to question the Judge’s refusal to grant summary judgment on this issue. In the 1978 Delaware Chancery Court decision Etter v. Marone, the court ruled

At the same time, certain generally accepted principles obtain with regard to encroaching trees or hedges. Regardless of whether encroaching branches or roots constitute a nuisance, a landowner has an absolute right to remove them so long as he does not exceed or go beyond his boundary line in the process. 2 C.J.S. 51, Adjoining Landowners § 52; 1 Am.Jur.2d 775, Adjoining Landowners § 127. He may not go beyond the line and cut or destroy the whole or parts of the plant entirely on another’s land even though the growth may cause him personal inconvenience or discomfort. 2 C.J.S. 51, supra.

So the Judge seems to be wrong: Delaware is firmly in the Massachusetts Rule camp.

What with allegations of underground tanks, clogged drainpipes and extreme mental anguish contained in the messy and unsupported complaint, Judge Scott pretty clearly had his hands full. By and large, he acquitted himself masterfully in the opinion, carefully deconstructing the plaintiffs’ complaints. But I’m betting that in about nine weeks, the Judge will be sitting down to a turkey dinner with all the trimmings. When he does, he should reflect that as many of us accept the Massachusetts Rule as will be dining on the same meal that day.

Dayton v. Collison, C.A. No. N17C-08-100 CLS (Super. Ct. Del. Sept. 24, 2019), 2019 Del. Super. LEXIS 446. Margaret Dayton and Everett Jones clearly had it out for their neighbor, Bill Collison. They claimed that since 2014, Bill had removed a significant number of standing trees and about 5,000 square feet of naturally growing plants from the City of Newark’s natural buffer zone, removed a 30-year-old drainage pipe located on his property and filled the remaining pipe with rocks and debris, intentionally altered the natural grade of his property so as to interfere with the natural flow of water, and trimmed a maple tree located on Maggie and Ev’s property along the boundary line. Additionally, they claim that an underground storage tank Bill installed – apparently your garden-variety propane tank – violates Newark’s municipal ordinances.

Maggie and Ev allege Bill’s property is a public nuisance, and that they have suffered “extreme mental anguish and damages of at least a $50,000 loss in the value of their home” because of flooding caused by Bill’s alteration of the grade’ invasion of privacy due to the removal of the buffer zone, being forced to live next to a hazardous condition because of the propane tank, and “damage or potential damage” (guess they’re not sure which) to the structural integrity of their property’s foundation.

They also claim Bill trespassed on their property multiple times to “alter the natural drainage flow of water, construct a berm, cut Plaintiffs’ trees, and take pictures or otherwise spy on Plaintiffs. From this, Plaintiffs claim they have suffered and continue to suffer damages and mental anguish in a sum to be determined at trial.”

Bill moved for summary judgment, claiming that Ev and Maggie cannot bring claims based on the alleged violation of city ordinances, and showing that their claims were baseless.

Held: Summary judgment in Bill’s favor was granted on all claims except the tree-trimming claim.

The Court held that a public nuisance is one which affects the rights to which every citizen is entitled. The activity complained of must produce a tangible injury to neighboring property or persons and must be one that the court considers objectionable under the circumstances.

To have standing to sue on a public nuisance claim, an individual must be capable of recovering damages and (2) have standing to sue as a representative of the public, “as in a citizen’s action or class action.” Here, Maggie and Ev have no right to bring a claim against Bill for alleged violations of the Code and thus, no standing to sue as representatives of the public. The Newark Code creates no rights enforceable by members of the public, and thus, it presents no basis upon which the requested relief may be granted.

To determine whether an implied private right of action exists, Delaware courts ask, among other things, whether there is any indication of legislative intent to create or deny a private remedy for violation of the act. Under the Newark City Charter, the City possesses “all the powers granted to municipal corporations by the Constitution and laws of the State of Delaware, together with all the implied powers necessary to carry into execution all the powers granted..” The city manager is responsible for administering all city affairs authorized by or under the Charter and may appoint individuals to enforce specific ordinances of the Code. The Court held that these reservations showed that the City of Newark intended for it to be solely responsible for enforcing its ordinances and did not intend to create a private right of action based upon ordinance violations.

Claims that Bill’s tree cutting was creating a public nuisance on the floodplain, likewise alleged violation of City ordinances, and thus were claims that Ev and Maggie lacked any standing to bring. As well, their claim that Bill’s propane tank had been installed without a permit alleged a violation of the City Code, a claim only the City could make.

Finally, Ev and Maggie claimed Bill created a public nuisance because he allegedly removed a drainage pipe from his property and filled the remaining pipe with rocks and debris. Outside of the fact that they were able to cite no evidence that any drainpipe had ever existed on Bill’s property, only the City of Newark had jurisdiction and control over drainage.

But Ev and Maggie claimed that Bill created private nuisances, too. A private nuisance is a nontrespassory invasion of another’s interest in the private use and enjoyment of their land. There are two types of private nuisance recognized in Delaware: nuisance per se and nuisance-in-fact. A claim for nuisance per se exists in three types of cases: 1) intentional, unreasonable interference with the property rights of another; 2) interference resulting from an abnormally hazardous activity conducted on the person’s property; and 3) interference in violation of a statute intended to protect public safety. A claim for nuisance-in-fact exists when the defendant, although acting lawfully on his own property, permits acts or conditions that “become nuisances due to circumstances or location or manner of operation or performance.” Plaintiffs allege claims under both the theory of nuisance per se and the theory of nuisance-in-fact.

But saying it doesn’t make it so. The Court granted Bill’s motion for summary judgment on the private nuisance claims because Ev and Maggie did not provide sufficient evidence supporting their nuisance per se claim, and did not submit expert reports to show the necessary elements of their claims.

Ev and Maggie also argued that Bill’s destruction of certain trees on their property and his failure to respect known boundary lines also constitute a continuing nuisance. They alleged that they suffered a diminution in the value of their home, in an amount of at least $50,000, as a result of the “nuisance created and maintained by” Bill. Ev and Maggie estimated the value of their home and the loss they had suffered. They argue that, as landowners, they may offer an opinion on the value of real estate. The Court disagreed: “Although Plaintiffs might know the fair market value of their property based on what they paid for it and based on a comparison of their property to other homes in the area, Plaintiffs do not know how each of Defendant’s alleged actions changed the value of their property. To establish how each of Defendant’s actions changed the value of Plaintiffs’ property, Plaintiffs would need to identify and submit an expert report from an expert witness; Plaintiffs have not done so.”

Those tin hats really work — it’s just that THEY want you to think there’s something wrong with wearing ’em …

Ev and Maggie allege that they have suffered “extreme mental anguish” as a result of Bill’s alleged nuisances. The Court ruled that Ev and Maggie “needed to show proof of the ‘extreme mental anguish’ they allegedly suffered through a medical expert. Without expert testimony, the Court is not able to find that Plaintiffs suffered this type of harm or that Defendant’s conduct caused such harm. Plaintiffs have neither identified an expert witness to testify to this matter nor submitted an expert report regarding this matter.”

Ev and Maggie’s only victory came on their claim that Bill damaged their maple tree. They alleged that he damaged a maple tree near the property line by shaving the trees directly up from the property line. Ev and Maggie have identified and submitted a report from an arborist, Russell Carlson, detailing the manner in which the maple tree was damaged by Bill’s alleged cutting back of the branches. The report shows the damage done to the maple tree and estimates the cost of that harm.

Bill responded to their report, arguing that he has a right to engage in “self-help” to the property line. The Court held that “it remains unclear in Delaware whether a defendant has a right to engage in ‘self-help’ by cutting tree limbs that extend onto his property. The Court declines to make a determination on this issue in a motion for summary judgment. Therefore, Defendant has not shown, in the face of Mr. Carlson’s report, that he is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Accordingly, summary judgment on this allegation is not proper.”

Ev and Maggie argued they are entitled to treble damages pursuant to 25 Del. C. § 1401, Timber Trespass. The Court may award treble damages for timber trespass when the plaintiff establishes that a trespasser “fells or causes to be cut down or felled a tree or trees growing upon the land of another”; 2) that plaintiff’s property was established and marked by permanent and visible markers or that the trespasser was on notice that the rights of the plaintiff were in jeopardy; and 3) that the trespass was willful.

Because Ev and Maggie only alleged that Bill damaged the tree, and did not cut it down altogether, they are not entitled to treble damages.

Finally, Ev and Maggie alleged that Bill intentionally trespassed on their property. The elements of a claim for intentional trespass are that the plaintiff has lawful possession of the land, the defendant entered onto the plaintiff’s land without consent or privilege, and the plaintiff shows damages. The Court held that there was a factual dispute as to whether Bill ever entered Ev’s and Maggie’s land. Thus, Bill was denied summary judgment on the trespass count.

Still, the Court pretty much savaged Ev’s and Maggie’s rather shrill and frantic claim, leaving their all-encompassing nuisance broadside a rather puny trespass and trim of a single tree.

– Tom Root

Case of the Day – Friday, September 26, 2025

Posted on September 26, 2025 by TLRoot tagged.

THE LAW OF UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES – PART 2

I had a secretary once, a delightful country girl who careened from being sharp as a tack to dumb as a stump. One of her expressions, when she would be nattering on about something for what seemed to be hours on end, was, “Never mind me. I’m just talking out loud.”

Courts are constantly getting in trouble for “talking out loud,” saying more in a decision than is necessary. When an opinion, aside, observation or frolic unnecessary to the decision is included in an opinion, it is known as obiter dictum, Latin for “by the way.” Obiter dictum is a concept derived from English common law, wherein a judgment is comprised of only two elements: ratio decidendi and obiter dicta.

One of the early lessons law students learn in their first year is that for the purposes of judicial precedent, ratio decidendi (which means the rule of law on which a decision is based) is the only part of the decision that is binding. Any statement that is obiter dictum is persuasive only.

By the way, lawyers usually call obiter dictum “dictum” for short. If there is more than one piece of dictum in a case, they are pluralized as “dicta.” (That previous “by the way” – in itself a perfect example of dictum – comes to you courtesy of my late and beloved Latin instructor, the incomparable Emily Bernges of Sturgis, Michigan. I had her a half-century ago, but in the firmament of unforgettable teachers, she is the brightest star).

Now to brush up on a little law: if I trespass on your land, you can sue to have me ejected. If you do nothing, and suffer my trespass and bad manners for long enough (usually 21 continuous years, but this can vary by state), I can sue you to quiet title, and the land becomes mine by adverse possession.

Now, instead of squatting on your place, I string a power line across a corner of it. You don’t give me permission, but again, you suffer in silence. It is not adverse possession, because you could continue to use the land under the power line. It’s just that I have taken the right to use your property without your permission, but in a way that is not inconsistent with your rights. If I maintain my power line for 21 consecutive years (at least in Pennsylvania, although different states specify different terms of years), I have not acquired ownership of the land, but I have acquired a prescriptive easement. A prescriptive easement, once acquired, may not be restricted unreasonably by the possessor of the land subject to the easement.

So that’s the progression. If I use your real estate without permission, I am a trespasser. If I remain a trespasser openly and continuously for a long enough period, I either wrest ownership of the land from you or, at the very least, obtain the right to an easement that you cannot revoke.

As we saw in yesterday’s case, Jones v. Wagner, a Pennsylvania court addressed encroaching tree branches and roots. This is unsurprising. Forty-nine other states have followed suit. But where everyone else is content with the Massachusetts Rule or the Hawaii Rule, the Virginia Rule or some amalgam of the three, the Pennsylvania court boldly went where no court had gone before. It decided that the owner of the encroaching trees became a trespasser when the branches overhung or the roots entered the subsurface. Such a holding was as contrary to common sense as it was unnecessary: trees grow, their owner does not control the growth, and simple rules allocating cost and responsibility work for everyone else with the need to resort to pounding the round peg of trespass into the square hole of encroachment.

But the Pennsylvania court did just that. And the holding begs the question: if a tree can trespass (or, more to the point, if the owner of a tree is a trespasser because of how the tree grows), might the owner also acquire a prescriptive easement if the encroachment persists long enough?

And here came the dictum. After foolishly applying trespass to tree encroachment, the Jones v. Wagner opinion speculates whether prescriptive easements could be acquired by tree trespass. That was not an issue in the case. It was pure dictum, talking out loud. But it did not take too long for another party to take the Jones v. Wagner idle musings and run with them.

Koresko v. Farley, 844 A.2d 607 (Commonwealth Ct. Pa. 2004). John and Bonnie Koresko bought a piece of property in Tredyffrin Township in 1986. Several trees, over 21 years old (which is important), grew on their property very near one property line. Branches hang over the boundary with the neighboring property.

That land was owned by Ollie Bower, who sold it to a developer in 1999. The developer wanted to subdivide the property into two lots and build two houses. The subdivision plan proposed the installation of a water line and the construction of a driveway near the boundary trees. Upon learning of the proposal, the Koreskos sued, seeking injunctive relief and money damages. The Koreskos claimed unreasonable interference with an easement. Specifically, they alleged that because their trees’ roots and branches encroached on the subdivided property for over 21 years, a prescriptive easement existed for the tree roots and branches. They assert that the development of the property would unreasonably interfere with that easement.

The trial court rejected the Koreskos’ claim, holding that “Pennsylvania does not and will not recognize an easement for tree roots or overhanging branches.”

The Koreskos appealed.

Held: Encroaching branches and roots cannot create a prescriptive easement.

A prescriptive easement is a right to use another person’s property that is not inconsistent with the owner’s rights and which is acquired by a use that is open, notorious, and uninterrupted for at least 21 years. A prescriptive easement, once acquired, may not be restricted unreasonably by the possessor of the land subject to the easement.

In Jones v. Wagner, a Pennsylvania Superior Court held that overhanging tree branches constitute a trespass. A landowner has the right to compel his or her neighbor to remove of overhanging branches, or the landowner may use self-help to cut the branches back himself or herself.

In discussing the appropriateness of self-help, the Wagner Court mused in a note:

An adverse possession action can often devolve into a pissing contest …

The Restatement notes that a continuing trespass is not a trespass at all if the actor causing the trespass has obtained an easement by adverse possession. Restatement (Second) of Torts § 161, comment d. We cannot help but wonder whether the continued presence of encroaching tree branches, held openly, notoriously, hostilely, and continually for 21 years would create a prescriptive easement in the airspace which they hang. If this would be the case, and we can find no Pennsylvania law which would indicate that a prescriptive easement is not available in this situation, a landowner who suffers actual harm for the first time during the tree owner’s twenty-second year of hostile ownership, might very well be precluded from seeking a judicial, or even self-help, remedy. This result, while not entirely unforeseeable, is anomalous. However, if an action is available without a showing of damage, the landowner has no reason to complain if a neighbor’s tree causes damage after the prescriptive period has run.

Citing this language, the Koreskis argued that their amended complaint sufficiently pleads a cause of action for unreasonable interference with a prescriptive easement. In contrast, the developer argued the Koreskis had not shown that such an easement existed. Specifically, the developer claimed, the encroachment of the tree roots and branches is not “open and notorious” conduct sufficient to create an easement.

The Commonwealth Court ruled that the Koreskis had failed to state a claim for prescriptive easement as a matter of law, for several reasons. First, encroaching tree roots and limbs by themselves cannot notify a landowner of a claim to use the ground. Second, Pennsylvania has never recognized the existence of such an easement. Third, the Court said, “well-reasoned authority from another jurisdiction persuades us that such easements should not be recognized.” Finally, the potential of widespread uncertainty such easements would cause “convinces us that they should not be recognized as a matter of public policy.”

“The requirement that, to be adverse, a use must be open and notorious is for the protection of those against whom it is claimed to be adverse,” according to Restatement of Property, Servitudes § 458, comment h. The requirement enables owners to protect themselves against the effect of the use by preventing its continuance.” To prove that an adverse use is ‘open and notorious,’ a claimant may show that either the landowner against whom the use is claimed has actual knowledge of the use or has had a reasonable opportunity to learn of its existence.

But encroaching tree parts, by themselves, do not establish “open and notorious” use of the land. Neither roots below ground nor branches above ground fairly notify an owner of a claim for use at the surface, the Court said. In the absence of additional circumstances, such as the use of the ground for maintenance or collection of leaves or fruit, roots and branches alone do not alert an owner that his exclusive dominion of the ground is challenged.

The philosophy of the law is that whenever neighbors cannot agree, the law will protect each owner’s rights to the extent possible. Any other result would cause landowners to seek self-help or litigate each time a piece of vegetation starts to overhang their property, fearing the loss of use or partial use of their property as the vegetation grows.

Finally, the Court said, “We consider the consequences of the holding urged by the Koreskis here. Judicial notice can be taken that trees growing over property boundaries and streets, around utility lines, and under [sidewalks are common in Pennsylvania]. A decision suggesting that the prolonged presence of these tree parts assures their unreduced continuation could cause uncertainty. Both the extent of the prescriptive easement and its effect on public and private use are problematic. As a matter of sound public policy, we decline to recognize a new estate which offers uncertainty and invites clarification through litigation.”

– Tom Root

Case of the Day – Tuesday, September 9, 2025

Posted on September 9, 2025 by TLRoot tagged.

YOU DON’T KNOW, JACK

Louisiana alone among the fifty states has a diverse (some might say muddled) legal history. Due to its heritage of French ownership for 81 years, then Spanish ownership for 38 years, and finally French for a few more (until Thomas Jefferson bought the place), Louisiana law between private parties, principally contracts and torts, is based on French and Spanish codes and ultimately Roman law, with only a few common law influences.

Rather than relying on stare decisis and law by accretion – that is – judicial decisions on real conflicts following prior cases and in some cases expanding on the principles that controlled the resolution of the conflicts, Louisiana has a comprehensive civil code, sort of like a binding version of Restatement of Torts and Restatement of Contracts.

Not everything is different, however. Louisiana’s laws, like those of other states, occasionally establish legal presumptions. All a presumption does is tilt the scales one way or the other, depending on the public convenience or good. And presumptions are doggone useful: For instance, a child born of a husband and wife living together is presumed to be the natural child of the husband. A person who has disappeared and not been heard from for seven years is presumed to be dead. And the one we all know from TV, an accused person in a criminal proceeding is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

Presumptions can also be useful in tree law. If a tree is growing on the boundary between your property and your neighbor’s, it can be pesky and difficult to prove who planted it, when it was planted, and what arrangements the people then owning the properties may have made regarding the sapling. Some states resolve this issue simply: if it straddles the boundary, it is commonly considered to be owned by both landowners, and neither can interfere with it without the other’s consent. Others make it more difficult: whether the tree is commonly owned depends on whether the neighbors claiming part ownership can jump through hoops to prove they (or their predecessors-in-interest) helped plant or nurture the tree, or treated it as the boundary line.

Louisiana splits the difference: it presumes that if the tree is on the boundary, it is commonly owned. However, either neighbor may rebut that presumption by offering evidence that the tree is not commonly owned.

In today’s case, the plaintiffs – Mark and Catina Jack – were unable to prove that the tree was not commonly owned. They could not show who planted it, when it was planted, or what arrangements had been made. The court declared the presumption to control the case, saying that as far as any evidence to the contrary went, “You don’t know, Jack.”

Jack v. Successions of Albert, 2019 La.App. LEXIS 1512 (La.App. 1 Cir. Sept. 4, 2019): The Jacks and the Alberts are neighbors. A large oak tree stands on the boundary between their properties. The Jacks complained that the roots of the tree were heaving the concrete in their driveway. The Jacks alleged that the Alberts owned the tree, and demanded that they pay to remove the tree and fix the driveway.

Louisiana Civil Code article 688 gives a landowner the right to demand that the branches or roots of a neighbor’s trees that extend over or into the landowner’s property be trimmed at the neighbor’s expense, provided that the roots or branches interfere with the enjoyment of the landowner’s property. The Jacks sought to recover the costs and expenses to repair the driveway, as well as damages for inconvenience and mental anguish.

At trial, the Jacks offered evidence of the extent of the damage to the driveway. The Alberts, on the other hand, offered the testimony of a surveyor who testified that the tree is located on the boundary between the Jacks’ and the Alberts’ properties. The Alberts argued that under Civil Code article 687, trees on the boundary are commonly owned unless there is proof to the contrary. Article 687 gives an adjoining landowner the right to demand the removal of a tree on the boundary that interferes with the enjoyment of his or her estate, but that owner must bear the expense of the tree’s removal. Based on these articles, the Alberts argued that the oak, located on the boundary of the two properties, is presumed to be the common property of the parties. Because the Jacks offered no evidence to rebut the presumption of common ownership, the Alberts contended, the Jacks must pay to remove the tree and fix their own driveway.

The trial court found for the Jacks, expressing its belief that the tree started growing on the Alberts’ property. The court ruled that the absence of evidence regarding how the tree arrived was irrelevant. Instead, it found that the Jacks’ photographs showed that most of the tree was on the Alberts’ property. The trial judge said he would be “hard-pressed” to find the tree was a boundary tree commonly owned by the Jacks and the Alberts.

Concluding that the oak was originally the Alberts’ tree, the court awarded $8,500.00 damages to the Jacks.

The Alberts appealed.

Held: The trial court holding was reversed because the Civil Code’s presumption that the boundary tree was commonly owned carried the day.

The record showed the tree was already on the boundary when the Jacks bought their property in 2003. The Alberts called Charles St. Romain, a civil engineer, whose testimony was less than stellar. He testified that the tree was “smack dab” on that line, but admitted on cross-examination that it was not really “smack dab” in the middle, and when it was a small tree, it probably was not a boundary tree at all.

But shaky testimony is better than no testimony at all. Under Louisiana law, trees belong to the owner of the soil on which they stand, regardless of their proximity to the property line. A landowner has the right to demand that the branches or roots of a neighbor’s trees, bushes, or plants that extend over or into his property be trimmed at the expense of the neighbor. An adjoining owner has the right to demand the removal of boundary trees, bushes, or plants that interfere with the enjoyment of his estate, but he or she must bear the expense of the removal.

Under Louisiana Civil Code article 687, trees, bushes, and plants on the boundary are presumed to be common unless there is proof to the contrary. Here, the Court of Appeals said, everyone agreed the oak tree is located on the boundary between the Jack and Albert properties. And everyone agreed that the oak tree’s roots had encroached under the Jacks’ driveway, causing damage and thus interfering with their enjoyment of their property. If Civil Code article 688 applied, the Alberts had to pay for the Jacks’ driveway and tree removal. If Civil Code article 687 applied, the Jacks would have to bear their own costs and damages.

The appeals court held that the correct interpretation of the Civil Code 68 8 assigned the Jacks the burden to prove that the offending tree was located on a neighbor’s property. However, Civil Code article 687 establishes a presumption that a tree located on the boundary between two properties is commonly owned. The section permits the presumption of commonness to be overcome by proof to the contrary, but that placed on the Jacks the burden to convince the trial court that their proposed conclusion is more correct than the presumed one. The presumption does not have any probative value in and of itself, but it does provide the factfinder with a conclusion in the absence of proof to the contrary.

If there is no proof to the contrary and the presumption of commonness stands, an adjoining landowner may have a common tree removed from the property but must do so at his or her own expense. The location of the oak tree on the boundary between the Albert and the Jack properties triggered Civil Code article 687′s presumption that the tree is a common one. “The Jacks,” the Court said, “who are claiming that the tree on the boundary is not common but is in fact owned by the Alberts, bore the burden of offering proof sufficient to overcome the presumption that the tree is commonly owned.”

The trial judge was wrong. The absence of evidence as to how the tree got there was very relevant. There is no evidence, the appeals court ruled, as to who planted the oak or when it was planted. While a photograph shows that years ago, a young tree may have been solely on the Alberts’ property, “the photograph is not conclusive since there is no expert testimony presented by the Jacks as to the exact location of the property line in said photograph. The only established fact is that the tree in question is located on the property line. Therefore, it is presumed to be common under Civil Code article 687.

The Jacks had an opportunity at trial to present proof that the tree is not a common one, but they failed to do so. Because the tree is presumed to be common, and the presumption of commonness was not rebutted by the Jacks, the Jacks and the Alberts are deemed to be co-owners of the tree.

– Tom Root

Case of the Day – Monday, August 11, 2025

Posted on August 11, 2025 by TLRoot tagged.

FISTS, NOSES AND TREES

Everyone’s heard the old saw that “the right to swing my fist ends where your nose begins.” Imagine your nose is a 65-foot tall maple tree, and my fist is a backhoe. Good luck with that – most imaginations aren’t quite that agile.

Here’s the problem. We all know about “self help,” the venerable old Massachusetts Rule that limits a landowner to trimming away encroaching branches and roots from a neighbor’s tree up to the property line. Michalson v. Nutting – and virtually every encroachment case decided in the eight decades since that decision – has given a property owner the right to trim back a neighbor’s tree to the boundary without any limitation.

At the same time, we all know about boundary trees, those trees whose trunks enter the earth smack on the property line, so that tree is attached to the ground in both properties. Boundary trees are special, and the general rule is that neither property owner may trim the tree without the consent of the other.

But what happens when a neighbor’s tree is not on the boundary, but so encroaches on a landowner’s property – both above ground and below ground – that the practical effect of the landowner’s Massachusetts Rule self-help will be to kill the tree?

Remember King Solomon? When two women appeared in front of him arguing over who was the mother of a baby, he proposed to settle it by cutting the baby in half so that each woman would get 50 percent of the child. That threat was enough to smoke out the imposter. In today’s case, dividing the tree in half would have had the same effect as cutting up the infant (albeit with less blood).

The Alvarezes own a nice place in Vermont, complete with a view of Lake Champlain. They have a 65-year-old maple tree next to the property line of their neighbors, the Katzes. It was close, but the base of the tree was completely on the Alvarezes’ property, so this was no boundary tree the parties were dealing with.

The tree had been standing for almost seven decades. In fact, when the Alvarezes bought the property 20 years ago, the maple had already sent roots and branches across the boundary between the two parcels.

The Katzes, who also enjoy a view of Lake Champlain, have planned for a number of years to add to their house, essentially doubling its size with a two-story addition. The only problem – or at least, the only problem we care about – was the maple tree. To add on, the Katzes would have to cut away about half of the maple tree’s branches and roots, in all likelihood killing the tree.

The Alvarezes and Katzes tried to resolve the problem amicably, but – just as happened with the women in front of King Solomon – there really wasn’t any middle ground. Either the Katzes would get their way, building onto their house and killing the tree, or the Alvarezes would have it their way. Like Dr. Seuss’s north-going and south-going Zax, neither neighbor would budge.

But then Katz somehow learned all about the Massachusetts Rule. It dawned on him that he could cut back the offending maple tree to the property line, both roots and branches. Sure, the tree might die, but the Massachusetts Rule said nothing about what happened to the tree after a neighbor used “self-cutting” trimming on it.

The Alvarezes ran to court and obtained an injunction against Katz. The trial court found that trimming the tree as Katz proposed doing would probably kill it. The injunction prohibited cutting away only about 25 percent of the tree, about half of what the Katzes needed for their ambitious plans.

The Katzes appealed, and the Vermont Supreme Court threw out the injunction. It held that the Massachusetts Rule was a blunt object, and had always been one. A landowner owns everything above and below ground level, and that owner can cut anything he or she wants to cut, without regard for the effect of the cutting. The Court said that was the law in Vermont and just about everywhere else.

The Zaxes wouldn’t budge, either …

The Supreme Court seemed a little uncomfortable with its decision, but it ruled in essence that the law is the law, and that’s the way Vermont had always done it. It noted, in a hint that was as subtle as an anvil, that cases where Massachusetts-style self-help had been limited – such as in Booksa v. Patel – the theory that had been advanced was that of nuisance. In other words, the Alvarezes could have argued that Katz’s proposed trimming would so endanger the tree that it would interfere with their enjoyment of their property. Recall in Booksa, the court ordered the defendant to trim the encroaching tree reasonably. The Vermont Supreme Court telegraphed that it would probably have done the same if the Alvarezes’ lawyer had only thought to make the argument. Oops.

Alvarez v. Katz, 199 Vt. 510, 124 A.3d 839 (Supreme Ct. Vermont, 2015). The Katzes own property in South Burlington around the Shelburne Bay area. The Alvarezes own the adjoining lot just to the north of the Katzes. The Alvarezes have a 65-foot-tall maple tree, the trunk of which is located entirely on their property. About half of the branches and roots from the tree cross the property boundary and encroach onto the Katz lot. Some roots extend under the Katzes’ existing deck.

For several years the Katzes have sought to expand their home by adding a two-story addition on the rear. The plans for the construction of the addition would require cutting the roots and branches that are encroaching on their property. This could encompass up to half of the tree’s roots and branches.

The Alvarezes and the Katzes have been unable to amicably resolve the problem of the maple tree. In 2013, when the Katzes considered taking unilateral action to trim the tree’s roots and branches, the Alvarezes filed for an injunction. The superior court found it more likely than not that removal of 50% of the tree’s roots and branches would result in the premature death of the tree, perhaps within five years and probably within ten from the time of cutting. The court employed what it called the “urban-tree rule,” under which trimming the roots or branches of an encroaching tree may be proscribed if the trimming will destroy the tree. The injunction barred the trimming of more than 25% of the roots and branches of the tree.

The Katzes appealed.

Held: The injunction was vacated. The Supreme Court reaffirmed “Vermont’s long-standing right of a property owner to trim branches and roots from an encroaching tree without regard to the impact that such trimming may have on the health of the tree.”

Vermont has long recognized ownership of property to include the ownership of that which is below the ground and that which is attached overhead. The right has been clear for almost 100 years, since Cobb v. Western Union Telegraph Co., (a 1916 decision that stated the Massachusetts Rule before there ever was a Massachusetts Rule). Cobb held that “it is a sound principle that where a tree stands wholly on the ground of one and so is his tree, any part of it which overhangs the land of an adjoining owner may be cut off by the latter at the division line.” The Supreme Court criticized the trial court for conjuring up an “urban-tree rule” that would be an exception to Cobb. The trial court had considered this case to be one of first impression in Vermont because of the anticipated adverse – and likely fatal – effect the root-and-branch cutting would have had on the encroaching tree. The Supreme Court held that any attempt to “distinguish” Cobb, that is, to find that the Cobb case was somehow different just because the Cobb tree was located in a rural setting, was wrong.

Further, the Supreme Court said, the “urban-tree rule” does not enjoy the support attributed to it by the trial court. Outside of two cases, the California decision in Booksa and one obscure New York decision, the Massachusetts Rule (which maybe we should have called the “Vermont Rule”) enjoys extremely widespread support. What’s more, the Court reasoned, the Vermont legislature has had 99 years to modify the Cobb holding by statute, and it has not bothered to do so. The Supreme Court concluded that the “right to cut encroaching trees where they enter the land of another, without regard to the impact on the encroaching tree by such cutting, is well-established under Vermont law.”

The Supreme Court noted that at common law, the right to cut encroaching boughs and roots historically counterbalanced a landowner’s right to grow shade trees on his land, regardless of the impact those trees may have in casting shade or encroaching upon the neighboring property. Common law provided no claim for damages caused by encroaching roots or branches. Instead, the remedy was one of self-help, allowing the cutting of roots and branches to the extent of encroachment.

Where other jurisdictions have departed from the common-law rule and allowed actions for damages as a result of encroaching roots or branches, they have generally relied upon nuisance principles. Even where such actions have been permitted, those jurisdictions continue to recognize the right to self-help. In this case, the Alverezes did not raise a nuisance claim, so “the issue of whether a nuisance claim might exist for the encroachment of roots and branches from the Alvarezes’ tree is not presently before the Court.”

The Supreme Court subtly suggested that the proper way for the Alvarozes to address the problem would be through the law of nuisance …

The Supreme Court defined the conundrum as follows: “[T]his case presents the competing interests of neighboring property owners. On the one hand, [the Katzes] have an interest in using their land, which they have purchased and upon which they pay taxes, as they see fit, within permissible regulations, free from limitations imposed by encroaching roots and branches from the neighbors’ tree, which they did not invite and for which they receive no benefit. The Alvarezes seek to restrict the use of the Katz property by preventing the removal of branches and roots on land that is not theirs and for which they have given nothing of benefit to [the Katzes] for suffering the encroachment. On the other hand, the Alvarezes wish to continue to enjoy their tree, which has been there for many years, without placing its viability in peril due to the construction that [the Katzes] wish to undertake.”

The Court observed that if the Alvarezes had the right to have their tree encroach onto the neighboring property, the obvious next question would be to what extent the encroached-upon property owner must suffer such an encroachment. The Supreme Court admitted that on some occasions the “exercise of self-help may result in the immediate or eventual loss of an encroaching tree, given the long-recognized rule in Vermont and its widespread support elsewhere, we decline to depart from the common-law rule in favor of the approach adopted by the superior court.”

– Tom Root