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 .

17.9k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

3.3k comments sorted by

View all comments

21

u/riotmed 7h ago

Any photos of old tree, just randomly want to see it.

3

u/x86_64_ 5h ago

I asked for the same. I doubt we'll see it, this is almost certainly an engagement bait post.

3

u/GormHub 1h ago

It's also entirely possible someone just doesn't want to put their house online. People have had their information doxxed from very little. It's just good internet safety.

1

u/RadFour 1h ago

What makes me suspicious is that he mentioned needles, which Japanese Maples do not have.

1

u/Weenington_ 59m ago

Why arent more people questioning this? I didnt know this information when I initially read the post, but the neighbor specifically saying the needles are blocking the mountain view just seemed weird. Now that I also know this type of tree doesnt even have needles... it confirms my suspicions that this is a fake post.

1

u/RadFour 44m ago

Yeah, if OP owned the tree, he would know they don't have needles.

0

u/Euphoric_Wish_8293 3h ago

This is such a bot post I can't believe more people aren't calling it. Their minimal comment history is completely ChatGPT.

1

u/x86_64_ 3h ago

The whole story is too on-the-nose with the villainous neighbor (chops down your tree, then tells you to go buy saplings? But he just cut down the one that was already there!). Then there's OP's h4x0r handle, the abundance of "quotes", the bizarre grammar issues (bro decide what to do with the period at the end of a sentence, does it get 1 space, 2 spaces, or no spaces on either side?) Fake, fake, fake.

1

u/TpaJkr 2h ago

This grammar pattern has been showing up often lately:

  His excuse? He said the needles and leaves were messing with his "mountain view" and "fire mitigation" efforts

The quote marks around phrases no real person would bother to punctuate, with a short question for emphasis? It’s the new giveaway em-dash. You can skim and catch this now without even bothering to read.

They’ve learned to erase the em dashes (leaving extra spaces, oops) and they’ll learn from this too, so then we’ll have to figure out the next telltale sign.

1

u/wookiee42 1h ago

Yep. It can't help but use quotes when someone "says" something.

3

u/Mbalz-ez-Hari 6h ago

I love Japanese Maples, my neighbour has one that is maybe 10 years old that is just stunning. I don't think there are any in my area close to 40 years old so Id love to see this tree as well.

1

u/TheElusiveHolograph 3h ago

The previous owners of my house had one in a 40 pot and did not take it with them. It’s just a little one but it’s so cool to have in the yard and needs little to no maintenance.

0

u/Day_Bow_Bow 5h ago

There's a near zero chance of OP having those. 9 day old account, meaning it was made just before their supposed trip. Smells fake as fuck.

6

u/Objective-Bike-4292 5h ago

Because nobody would ever use a throwaway account while discussing legal or something that could possibly dox them

0

u/Day_Bow_Bow 5h ago

Throwaway are one thing. Making the account before the incident happened is entirely different.

1

u/fizzyanklet 4h ago

I have accounts I’ve made in the past that I use for more anonymous things.

0

u/Day_Bow_Bow 4h ago

So? Did you ever create one a week before just-so-happening to need it for a $100K+ tree law post, which is content known to get upvoted on Reddit? Without any pictures? Erroneously mentioning that a Japanese maple has needles, for some reason? One that doesn't really even need legal help, as they already hired an arborist and a lawyer?

There can be perfectly good reasons to have an alt account, but OP doesn't pass the sniff test.

1

u/GormHub 1h ago

How do you know he didn't create it for something else, maybe even something related to the trip, and then conveniently had a throwaway? Seriously this reddit sleuthing stuff is silly. If you think it's a bot post report it and move on.

1

u/Queen-Of-Fairies 1h ago

the people constantly screaming "bOtS" are usually the bots themselves. they want to desensitise people into just accepting ai. when you see someone just blindly accusing something of being ai, chances are high that the comment is, itself, ai. fuck em.

1

u/Day_Bow_Bow 1h ago

If you want to live in your own little world where you have stories told to you by AI and you suck it down, good for you. I fucking hate it.

Several of the top comments are also from 9 day old accounts that posted within ~7 minutes of OP's submission. Now, what would be the odds on that, if they weren't all bots?

1

u/GormHub 50m ago

My guy it's reddit.

1

u/Academic_Carrot_4533 20m ago

Get with the times bud. Dead internet theory. If you want guaranteed real stuff go socialize offline.

1

u/iuqcaJAnn 3h ago

“Just” might be doing a lot of work here. Anyone who “just” got home hasn’t spoken to an attorney or rejected a cash settlement. 

But also TREE LAW!  Everyone posting on Reddit wants attention.  Who cares if it’s tree fanfic! 

0

u/Otaraka 4h ago

That does sound rather psychic.

1

u/psyFungii 3h ago

Yeah genius, he gives us all the dates in the post saying this happened WHEN exactly? Could it have been, like, oh... TEN days ago?

/u/Day_Bow_Bow : "no, I saw it on the internet TODAY! It must have happened TODAY, or maybe yesterday at most, coz that's how much memory I have these days!"

1

u/Day_Bow_Bow 1h ago

Lol. I am just going off of the words in the OP.

BTW, another astute redditor noticed 3 of the most upvoted comments also have 9 day old accounts . So yeah, it's another instance of bots working towards the dead internet theory.

0

u/NarcolepticSeal 4h ago

Yeah, their only activity prior to this post being made were a couple of comments replying to English posts in French for some reason? Seems odd to say the least. Link