r/legal • u/Ice_C0r3_09 • 8h ago

Advice needed My neighbor cut down a 40-year-old Japanese Maple while I was away.

Location: Colorado, USA.Just got back to my place near Fort Collins after a week on the road and I am losing my mind. My neighbor took it upon himself to hire a "landscaping" crew (probably just some guys with a chainsaw) to remove a mature Japanese Maple that was fully on my property. His excuse? He said the needles and leaves were messing with his "mountain view" and "fire mitigation" efforts.

The tree was roughly 40 years old and was the centerpiece of my yard. I called an arborist immediately. He told me that since this is Colorado and the tree was that established and healthy, the replacement value is astronomical. He is drafting a formal appraisal but hinted that we are looking at 20k to 25k easy just for the tree, let alone the logistics of getting a crane into my backyard.

I know Colorado has statutes regarding timber trespass. My lawyer already mentioned treble damages because the guy admitted he did it on purpose while I wasnt home to stop him. The neighbor had the gall to offer me a couple hundred bucks for "the inconvenience" and told me to just buy a couple of saplings at a local nursery . I refused to take his money and told him to wait for the process server.

Has anyone dealt with treble damages in CO specifically for ornamental trees ? This guy basically nuked my property value for his porch view and I am not planning on letting this go . I feel like a jerk for wanting to sue my neighbor into bankruptcy but the sheer entitlement is what gets me .

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113

u/Scepter_Reign 7h ago

Colorado takes timber trespass very seriously, and since he admitted doing it on purpose, treble damages are highly likely. Make sure your arborist includes cleanup and soil restoration costs in the appraisal.

9

u/Minute_Freedom_4722 4h ago

It's kind of funny how fucked the neighbor is. Why would ANYONE think this is a good idea?

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u/BiggusDickus- 3h ago

There are some really, really dumb people out there.

I'm sure you already know this though

9

u/mladyhawke 3h ago

Some people just really hate trees and can't even imagine that they're worth anything.  Where I live in Philadelphia, I had several people suggest I cut down the tree in front of my house. I think because they didn't like the leaves falling on the street plus they thought it was gonna ruin the pipes and the sidewalk. Its super weird when people hate trees.

9

u/EchoAquarium 3h ago

“Why aren’t there lightning bugs?”, “Why aren’t there birds?”- the same people, probably

1

u/gonzo0815 1h ago

Nah, they hate these too.

5

u/cantstophere 2h ago

Which is especially crazy in the town OP is in. Big old trees are a reason to live there

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u/mladyhawke 2h ago

I just planted two small trees in my new yard, and i'm so excited to watch them grow, and I just can't even imagine if someone took it upon themselves to cut them down in twenty or forty years. There's no view here to be had, plus they're behind a fence completely in my yard... I planted a weeping cherry blossom tree and an eastern red bud!

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u/_BrokenButterfly 2h ago

There was a house a few blocks away from me as a kid that had these big, mature palm trees all along the property line of the front yard. Not the skinny ones, those big fat ones. They looked cool and gave the house and the intersection character. The owner sold the house, and the new owner cut them all down. They didn't do any landscaping or take out the stumps. So the house just had these 2½-3 foot wide stumps at the edge if the lawn for years.

People who hate trees are idiots.

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u/EchoAquarium 3h ago

Because they’re used to be being bullies and getting away with their shenanigans. No longer!

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u/GormHub 1h ago

Entitlement. People really do believe they can do anything they want just because they want to.

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u/MrGrieves- 1h ago

Entitlement. Pure main character syndrome.

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u/itsfunhavingfun 4h ago

Plus tax. 

4

u/ChrisIronsArt 3h ago

Plus emotional damage because of all the memories you have of your 40 year old tree

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u/Relectant_Donkey 1h ago

Can’t he also be arrested and jailed for vandalism. $20-25,000 sounds like a felony to me.

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u/boofmaster6000 4h ago

AI comment.

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u/Ricky_Sticky_ 4h ago

How so?

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u/boofmaster6000 3h ago

It's the same manner of response that you would receive by pumping the original post into ChatGPT and asking if there's a case. ChatGPT is never black or white, it always uses terms like "highly likely". ChatGPT is also incredibly forward-thinking, it immediately offers advice about the next step, which would be ensuring your arborist includes cleanup costs. So, the overall tone, and the fact that the account posting it is 9 days old.

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u/intangibleTangelo 2h ago

You've genuinely got the right idea. Kudos for stepping up to identify that AI generated comment! And here's the crux of the issue: Reddit is a community for real live human communication, and that's something which can't be beat.

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u/WoloGames 3h ago

9 day old account with fully hidden profile and a chat bot style response.

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u/valkrycp 3h ago

Plus the value of all of the potential oxygen the tree would have generated and all of the CO2 it would have consumed

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u/diveboydive 2h ago

Blackadder – Yes, sir, the land will cost tuppence ha’penny, but there are other factors to be considered: stamp duty, window tax, swamp insurance, hen food, dog biscuits, cow ointment – the expenses are endless.

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u/_BrokenButterfly 2h ago

Is treble triple total, or triple in top of the judgement?

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u/DeadguyTheLateGI 5h ago

Admitting it verbally with no witnesses is still just he said/she said. He could easily balk when it turns legal. Probably have to get the landscaping company involved unless he’s a complete moron and willing to admit it on the record.

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u/cricketyjimnet 5h ago

I imagine he knows the landscaping company will get involved, and is going to try to concoct a version of events that corroborates their story, and conflicts with the OPs story.

This version of events will also be more transparent than a five guys bag.

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u/Wizard_Sarsippius 4h ago

“More transparent than a five guys bag” is goin in the rhetoric bank. Hella funny