Homeowner Gets $7,000 Settlement After Neighbor Cuts Down 89-Year-Old Oak Tree

A multi-year legal saga has just played out on Reddit, and those who were lucky enough to stick with the story got a chance to see one homeowner come out victorious.

In fact, the legal battle was so epic that a lawyer even jumped into the comments to ask mods to pin the post so that anyone who needed to pop into the r/treelaw subreddit could find out how to come out on top.

It all started in August 2024, when Redditor catgutt posted a photo of a tree stump, saying that their neighbor cut down a healthy 89-year-old oak tree “because he didn’t like big trees near his shed.” The only issue was that the OP said that the tree was actually on their property and not the neighbor’s. 

Once the neighbor was confronted about the situation, they asked OP to help foot the bill for the expensive tree removal. Over the next two years, the OP popped back in from time to time, saying that the legal issue was still ongoing, and that they would update when they had a resolution. Then, in May, the OP shared the final update on how everything finally came to an end.  

The Neighbor Demanded $1,000 From the OP

The neighbor had no idea where the property lines are and cut down my healthy 89-year-old oak because he didn’t like trees being near his shed
by
u/Catgutt in
treelaw

According to the post, the OP noticed that the neighbor was cutting down a tree that was located 40 feet over the property line and in their yard. When they confronted the neighbor about the location of the tree, the neighbor asked the OP to split the $2,000 bill for the tree removal in lieu of an apology.

Frustrated, the OP decided to fight back against the neighbor. “Got pictures of the stump, the other trees he had cut down at the same time (mostly on his lot), the day laborers in question, the property stakes that were ignored, and photos from both my front yard and his to demonstrate before/after as compared to Google photos,” they wrote in the original post.

After filing a police report, the OP contacted a “tree lawyer” and had their wife write down everything she remembered from the day. “I’m a Virginia resident, and it looks like we have triple damages for timber trespass so I am being thorough,” the Redditor added.

People Offered Plenty of Advice

The OP had no shortage of suggestions in the comments, including plenty of people who suggested that the OP not listen to any advice on Reddit. “Yes please for the love of god if it’s important your lawyer will do it for you that’s their literal job,” one person wrote in response to another person’s idea that the OP should ask for a copy of the invoice. 

“I have to remind people of this way too often,” another person added. “You hired an expert, stop strategizing and suggesting the next step.” 

The OP Waited Until the Case Was Resolved to Update

Careless Neighbor Update: After Two Years, I Won
by
u/Catgutt in
treelaw

In May, the Redditor came back to explain that the situation had finally been resolved, and they ended up learning a lot of valuable information in the process. For starters, they said that the police report ended up being a nonstarter, since “it was not a malicious act.” 

Next, the homeowners’ insurance and mortgage lenders were also uninterested in the issue, since it didn’t affect the home’s value or safety. And since it was the neighbor who hired the tree removal company, the OP said he wasn’t able to go after them for damages. “The fees involved in the survey, arborist appraisal, home appraisal, and lawyer’s fees would not be recoverable,” the update continued. “The only damages we could seek would be that loss in property value.”

So that’s exactly the route the OP took, hiring an appraiser who said that the property lost around $10,000 in value due to the tree being cut down. The OP sued the neighbor, and after a lot of back and forth between the two sides, the neighbor agreed to settle for $7,000. After all the lawyer’s fees and other costs, the OP says that they walked away with roughly $2,000 in their pocket, feeling like justice was (kind of) served.

While this played out over two years, it seems relevant as the rising cost of purchasing a home has many people opting to improve the places where they currently live instead of looking to upgrade their homes. That often means making big changes, like removing trees.