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Page: Profile: Wren's Nest News Local
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Article: 18535
[Legal]
Date Posted:
9/15/2007
11:00:49 am EDT
Wvox Stats
Views: 9,141
RSS: 15,944
Comments: 13
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Va. High Court Breaks New Ground On Tree Liability
Author: Brigid Schulte Source: Washington Post
Title: VA. HIGH COURT BREAKS NEW GROUND ON TREE LIABILITY
In the suburbs, there are few issues that can cause as much rancor and neighborhood discord as a deep-rooted, mature tree that has no regard for the neat boundaries of a property line.
Who pays if your neighbor's tree damages your house?
Yesterday, the Virginia Supreme Court weighed in on the contentious issue with a decision that overturns a nearly 70-year-old precedent. Now, for the first time, homeowners can sue to force a neighbor to cut back branches or roots or take out the tree altogether if it poses a risk of "actual harm" or an "imminent danger" to their houses, the court ruled. Tree owners can now be held liable for any damage caused by the tree.
The reasoning? The court realized just how much Virginia has changed.
The justices ruled in a Fairfax County case that the old law made perfect sense in a rural world, but now, with townhouse and condo developments springing up on former farmland, with infill development in cities and densely packed neighborhoods, the law "is unsuited to modern urban and suburban life."
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Community Thoughts: There are 13 comments posted | Reverse Sort |
| I Said It Once, A LONG Time Ago, | Sep 17th. at 12:04:11 pm EDT
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LD Wolverine (Edmonton, Ontario) - Email Me
but it bears saying again.
In case any of you out there has forgotten, this is "Wren's nest" and anything she deems newsworthy is here. We read the good stories we read because she, and perhaps a few volunteers who work with her, spend hard earned, valuable time researching stories that MAY be of interest to the Pagan population at large.
Personally I have read more stories here that I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to even hear about, because of her diligence.
Regardless of weather a story has "spiritual" relevance...I think that all the stories she has featured here has relevance in the fact that Pagans might relate to it.
And this story has that. It is relevant to me as a Pagan...and I know that there are more out there who do find it relevant.
That is what this story is here.
I hope this answers your questions and I hope my answer isn’t too far off the mark when it comes to the founders of this news site.
Peace.
Linda
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| Noxious Tree | Sep 16th. at 5:55:56 pm EDT
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Ahr-Ohn (Bridgeport, Connecticut) - Email Me
"A big problem, however, was that no one ever defined a "noxious tree."
500' tall, totally Pink, and smells terrible.
Trees are to be respected as natural phenomena, and Cropping of Native Species should not be required, but by Covenant. I hope he replaces that tree with a stand of Kudzu.
The condo was bought with a Gum Tree in the next rod-width yard. The buyer had every right, and the lending agency every obligation, to get an engineer's report before purchase, just as with Title Insurance.
The Tree had a natural Easement, for those roots.
If any town wants to maintain its rural character, it should protect no building within a tree-fall of the property line.
Arawn
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| When ATtree Falls On A House... | Sep 16th. at 2:32:11 pm EDT
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nasionnaich (Stanchfield, Minnesota) - Email Me
Whether you live in a rural area, a city suburb or a downtown apartment building -- you simply cannot dictate which way a tree will fall, unless you happen to be the one bringing it down. I had a tree which was leaning to east, and when it came down during a heavy storm it fell towards the west. See, it was the WIND that brought it down, not just gravity. Good thing there were no buildings to the immediate west of that tree....
If a home-owner is so very concerned about any trees which might fall on their house, they should have home-owner's insurance which covers such things as trees falling on their house. it's the same as living on a flood-plain -- make sure your insurance covers flood damage specifically if there is ANY chance of the area being flooded at any time.
A tree falls on your house and causes damage? It isn't the tree owner's fault -- it's the tree's fault. If one of your own trees falls on your house (or garage, barn, shed, gazebo, whatever) , and you don't have insurance, are you going to sue yourself for allowing that tree to be there? Are you going to sue the tree?
----nasionnaich
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| All Things In Their Right Place. | Sep 15th. at 3:04:23 pm EDT
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GreeneDragon (Palmdale, California) - Email Me
Just as it is wrong to try and keep a large outdoor animal as a pet in a small apartment, it is equally wrong to try and grow an expansive plant where it cannot freely grow without causing harm or being harmed.
If people are allowed to plant whatever they want to without reguard for the total environment where they are planted that can be an ecological disaster.
A pointed example of what I am talking about is the kudzu disaster. If you dont already know, this "ivy" is really a bean vine that has many positive features but it was transplanted into the US from Asia about 1900 and in its new home with few natural enemies is spreading like an epidemic, destroying whole localized ecosystems. It grows like wildfire (about 1 foot per day) , kills just about every plant it touches (by blocking the light they need with its leaves) , chokes trees (like a boa-constrictor chokes people) breaking branches and uprooting trunks, and incredibly difficult to eradicate once established. Look at this report [Web LINK] of the kudzu problem near Salem. MA (the pictures on pages 6 & 15 are particularly illustrative) .
Where I live new plantings for some kinds of trees (such as weeping willows) are banned because they are water hungry and I live in an arid climate. We already have a delicate ecology and as more people move into the area we are seeing increased water consumption as well as increased general humidity and subtle climate pattern changes. Our local laws are starting to become environmentally sensitive although it will be a while before they are environmentally sound.
The article points out that we should expect an increase in tree related lawsuits. I would also suggest that we can expect real estate sale agreements to have tree related liability waivers added to them, housing developers to start selecting and planting trees with smaller "footprints" above and below the ground (to minimize their liability, and local zoning ordinances and HOA rules to change to reflect what can be planted.
I think with a little patience and some common sense we will see trees continue to flourish in urban environments, just ones that are more suitable to the modern world of small real estate lot sizes.
Find More info -- HERE
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| Query | Sep 15th. at 2:15:21 pm EDT
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Celtic Fire (DiggersRest, Victoria) - Email Me
how to apply the Wiccan Rede in this instance. an it harm none do as you will . The tree, mother earth ,the humans involved are all living beings .Does the tree feel pain , does mother earth feel pain , humans feel pain . In thecase of humans it is the pain of trespass, and the pain of loss. What of the tree and mother earth ? I don't know
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| Barren Vision Ahead | Sep 15th. at 1:17:14 pm EDT
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Lady Huath (Orlando, Florida) - Email Me
Making trees on your property a liability in case of acts of nature means insurance rates go up. Outcome will be less trees in these already barren developments, and that means more direct sunlight, greater heat, dryer lawns, more watering, less rain, lowering of the water table--looks like a firm step to oblivion. When trees are a liability, life turns bleak.
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