$1,300,000 Million Settlement Tree Failure Case – Liability Disputed

Spinal Cord Injury

On September 26, 2019, a large portion of a 40-foot Heritage Oak tree on a neighbor’s property sheared off and struck DLG’s client, a 54-year-old executive, as she was getting into her car to go to work.  The tree, which had co-dominant trunks, was riddled with rot at the junction of the two trunks.  DLG’s client was unresponsive at the scene and rushed to the emergency room. Unfortunately, her injuries required an in-patient hospital stay and spinal fusion surgery.

Thinking that she did not have a meritorious case and having received a flat denial of liability from the tree owners’ insurance company, the client contacted DLG just weeks before the two-year statute of limitations expired.  DLG attorneys John Demas and Tim Spangler immediately consulted with an expert arborist and filed a lawsuit against the owner of the tree and a tree maintenance company that had worked on the tree a little over a year before the tree failed.

Liability was hotly disputed.  With the assistance of their retained expert, John, and Tim focused on the presence of a wound on the tree in the area where it ultimately failed – arguing that the presence of the wound reasonably should have triggered further evaluation into the tree’s health.  Through written discovery and depositions, John and Tim were able to establish that the owners of the tree failed to take even the most minimal steps to evaluate the health of the tree.  As to the tree maintenance company, DLG showed that the company put profits over safety by misrepresenting its expertise and failing to identify and warn of dangerous conditions.  Shortly before the case was scheduled to begin trial, the Defendants collectively paid $1.3 million to settle the case.

Through incredible perseverance and despite chronic pain, the client was able to return to her high-level position at work.

With long odds of success and a rapidly expiring statute of limitations, many firms would have chosen not to take on a case like this one.  But at DLG, a challenge is seen as an opportunity – an opportunity to achieve justice for a deserving client.