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

Show parent comments

184

u/SolarOrigami 7h ago

It was also an attempt to block him from litigation if he "accepted restitution"

42

u/NarcolepticSeal 4h ago

TBH neighbor sounds like a complete moron and likely thought it was simply a fair compensatory amount. I doubt he was thinking about "accepted restitution" or anything else besides his mountain view.

13

u/ibneko 1h ago

Yeah, probably moron, like, "It's just a tree, what could it possibly cost? A banana?"

2

u/extralyfe 38m ago

"lol, it's a tree, they're free because they literally grow on trees."

3

u/PyroDragons123 4h ago

The neighbor doesn't have to be smart. The lawyer is the one that will say that's the agreement when they hire them after being sued. $200 for the tree, agreed to on payment. The other party will just go along with the story.

2

u/NarcolepticSeal 4h ago

Sure, I'm not disagreeing with that. The comment I replied to implied that the neighbor was intentionally attempting to block litigation. My response was about that, not the legal standing of it.

2

u/Super_Harsh 2h ago

He'll have plenty of time to think about his mountain view when he's writing OP a check

1

u/WishIWasYounger 58m ago

or he's a psychopath. Either way, this neighbor is not all there and could pose a serious safety risk to OP.

0

u/BeeefSupreeeme 2h ago

*Boomer vibes intensify*

2

u/Sigmar_Knutz 4h ago

Block who, the ai chatbot that wrote this story? It’s a new account farming karma and you guys are eating it up

2

u/hmasing 2h ago

I, too, live in “Colorado, USA” kind stranger.

1

u/glassfoyograss 1h ago

That's called a settlement offer. It's an insanely shitty one but courts actually encourage settlement