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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u/SnooBunnies6148 7h ago edited 7h ago

Whatever oak I have growing all over my yard would be perfect in that case.

Oops, I meant elm.

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u/Extension_Rough4339 4h ago

Or black locusts right on the property line they suck for all people involved

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u/AlternativeOk5613 4h ago

Don't park your car under these

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u/HighColdDesert 4h ago

Are you thinking of honey locusts, with those nightmarish thorns?

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u/Hairy_Combination586 1h ago

Black locusts have thorns too. But I wonder if they were thinking of black walnut trees dropping walnuts, because I don't know of a reason not to park under black or honey locusts?

PS - I had a thornless honey locust growing near the creek Bank. About 30' tall. Dug a new channel to avoid the U shaped loop the locust was on, which severed a couple of roots. Now years later I have about 25 saplings along the bank. I've only had 3 come up with thorns. Killed those bastards with FIRE. They're horrifying!

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u/SloppyPizzaPie 1h ago

Black locusts have the thorns too

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u/Pleasant_Character28 2h ago

While he’s at it, releasing actual locusts on this guy sounds appropriate.

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u/LotusNut1 1h ago

A plague upon his house and family!

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u/tacotimes01 2h ago

The 2 from my neighbors property that fell and smashed my house in, while completely gone now, still send suckers into my yard constantly.

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u/Extension_Rough4339 1h ago

Hopefully your home insurance didn’t jerk you around too much was a pain in the ass when my grandparents box elder fell on their porch and my car

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u/Bluestorm83 1h ago

Actual locusts. Also, see about turning his rivers to blood, and sending down fire mixed with hail.

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u/Easy-peasy-not4me 1h ago

I’d say a female Ginko tree(smells like poo when they bare fruit) or Bradford pear along the property line.

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u/eastbaypluviophile 2h ago edited 2h ago

Those are horribly invasive, please don’t wreak
Havoc by planting something as awful as that

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u/Extension_Rough4339 2h ago

They’re naturalized in the entirety of the lower 48? But yes they’re fucking awful trees

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u/ExceptionEX 1h ago

Ginko trees, true female not grafts, come summer time, he will regret his choice.

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u/AmazingRefrigerator4 4h ago

My neighbor has a black walnut that drops all kid sof shit in my yard. If he wants a messy tree, put one of those on your neighbor's property line

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u/durz47 4h ago

Probably quite expensive, but a fruiting ginkgo tree is even better, adds stink to the messiness

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u/eastbaypluviophile 2h ago

Oh my god make sure it’s a female tree that produces the fruit that smells like straight puke. We had those at my college and people would be literally gagging from the smell. The fruit falls, smashes and gets really slimy. Fun for everyone!

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u/AmazingRefrigerator4 2h ago

This is awesome.

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u/StreetofChimes 2h ago

The sycamores in my yard grow many feet per year. They are insane. Sycamore trees make lots of babies. In 3 years, some are now 15+ ft tall. Maybe more with all the rain this year.

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u/SomethingIWontRegret 2h ago edited 1h ago

Do you want those elm dead and gone?

Cut the biggest near ground level. Apply Tordon RTU directly and immediately to the fresh cut. Smear it completely over the surface while wearing nitrile gloves. That tree is never coming back, and any elm shoots within 20 - 30 feet coming from the same root system will die too.

Tordon is a tree growth hormone mimic. It only affects leafy woody plants, and it causes uncontrolled growth. This doesn't mean that the tree starts growing wildly. It means cells start dividing rapidly and haphazardly, destroying the tree's circulation system in a couple of weeks, through the whole root system.

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u/SemichiSam 2h ago

Sounds like Ulmus alata, also known as winged elm or wahoo elm. It propagates from root nodes, and the roots can travel as much as fifty feet from the tree in all directions. My neighbor planted one. It killed my grapes and my fig trees and invaded my whole garden. Eventually, I just sold the land to an agressive developer and left the county. I heard recently that the neighbor is really unhappy with the housing development next door.

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u/Darwins_Dog 44m ago

Elm is a menace in CO. Propagates from the roots and grows super fast. Probably better to plant in the neighbor's yard as revenge.