That sucks. I hope you have before and after pictures; that would likely solidify your case. I'm no lawyer but I'm guessing you'd have to go after the tree company since the neighbors weren't doing anything wrong by hiring the company to do something presumably legal.

Hre's the really fun thing. My jackass next door neighbors won't given me the name of the tree removal company.

Take photos and document. Then take a deep breath and allow yourself to think about this for a week. Sueing the neighbors or the tree company won't bring the ferns back this year or salvage the beech. Yes, you can sue them for property damage. But it may add more stress to you than relief and certainly would cost you more money than you'd recover. If you want to part with 5K+, spend it on a fence and think of Robert Frost.

Contractors do not SEE gardens, ever, so get a fence to avoid this next time. And an unproductive comment: Your neighbors don't deserve to have you as a neighbor. I hope they move soon. I don't blame you for crying, I've cried over this sort of stuff too, but the damage sounds worse than I've ever dealt with. So very sorry.

PS - have another neighbor ask them for the name of the tree company, on the pretext that they need some work done.

Ugh. Blah. Ugh. Kim, this is awful.

(I am not a lawyer.)

The limit for small claims court is $5,000. You don't need a lawyer for small claims court.

Also, before that, I would send a registered letter to the neighbors, with documentation, a list of events, what you said to the neighbors, what the neighbors said to you, an itemized request for monetary compensation, and a conclusion that says that if they don't pay up, you will sue them in small claims court.

(I can't imagine that they're not liable (although see above). They hired the tree company. Even BP hasn't said that it's Transocean's drilling platform that blew up, so BP shouldn't have to pay.)

If you think your damages are meaningfully more than $5,000, you will need a lawyer -- in which case, the question I would think about very carefully is, "Is it worth it?"

I live in MD too. You may remember a few years ago when a new neighbor destroyed my trees and plantings along a 100-foot border. I never sued, because it turns out I couldn't go after him for the value of the trees etc that were ruined -- only for the REDUCTION IN THE VALUE OF MY PROPERTY caused by the loss of those plantings. Even though I could document the hundreds of dollars I had spent on them, the reduction in the property value due to their loss was itself negligible, so my lawyer advised me to let it go.

See if you get a different response.

Lynn

I'm so sorry Kim. Your ferns were beautiful. I'll start potting up some replacements right now.

But my DH who is a MD attorney says first, he is not up on this particular set of laws. But withstanding this lack of expertise, his advice is go to small claims court with no attorney. He thinks you should get an estimate from a reliable landscaper on the cost of replacement plants and the cost of taking down the beech tree. As you get the estimate, be sure you ask if the landscaper would be willing to come to small claims court as an expert (probably 3 hours). Offer to compensate the landscaper for his/her time to come to court for you. Your neighbor is the agent, they hired the tree company and they are responsible for your damages. If you win, and actually get the neighbor to pay, then use the $$$ to hire the landscaper to replace the ferns and take out the tree.

If you get a judgement and the neighbor refuses to pay then you can hire a collection attorney who will take about 30% off the top but will work on a contingency basis.

It will be a pain and take at least two days off work (to get the estimate and to go to court + collection hassle). It might be easier to get new ferns from your friends and borrow a chain saw. My dear old dad (age 77), a master chainsawyer, will take your tree down for you and saw it into logs, he says, preferably at 5 AM on a weekend just to annoy the neighbors!

You can go after the company, not the neighbors. The neighbors' only crime was lack of sympathy.

Cathy, I adore your father. Ask him what day he wants to come with his chain saw at anywhere from 4 to 5 am and see how much noise we can make. And I would love any ferns you can spare to help replant what has been despoiled.

I have asked several tree companies to come for an estimate of whether the trees that have been splintered and topped will survive and be healthy or should they just come down. But after last week's storms, it will two weeks before they can get to me. With those figures in hand I can proceed with the registered letters etc.

I want to take these buttheads to court because ever siince they moved in, they have trampled my property. The easement that is the common driveway is 10 feet wide, but since the day they moved in they have driven off the side of the driveway and over my plants. When I complained they said I should not plant along side the driveway. They only stopped when I told them I was having tire spikes installed along side of the driveway and perhaps that woudld teach them to be able to stay on a 10-foot wide blacktop. One of them ran over the dog of the people who live next closer to the road than me on the driveway. What made me maddest was the wife saying she had talked to her insurance company and they said because the dog wasn't on a leash she wasn't responsible for the vet bills. I asked if she had told her insurance company that the dog was on its own property at the time (sleeping, not running into the path of the car. The driveway is an easement, not joint property). Not to mention the moral responsibility. They eventually paid the vet bills and the dog is ok today.

These peole need a lesson and I think being dragged into court would be it. The wife (who handles things contracts with landscapers and tree companies) said she watched them go onto to my property and break up my trees and plants, but it was more important to have her trees taken down so she told them it was ok

I would go after the tree company but the butthead neighbors will not provide the name of the company. One lawyer I talked to said that homeowners are also responsible for dangerous work done on their property and tree removal is considerd dangerous. And that their continued refusal to provide the name leaves them solely responsible.

I'm thinking seriously about having a banner made to hang from my deck which is now clearly visible from their windows (despite their saying the big tree they took down had no leaves) that says something like Deadbeat despoilers live next door. I'm seriously considering putting in a fence and giving the neighborhood teenagers cans of spray paint to decorate the butthead neighbor's side.

>One lawyer I talked to said that homeowners are also responsible for dangerous work done on their property and tree removal is considerd dangerous. And that their continued refusal to provide the name leaves them solely responsible.

True enough!

Kim,
I'm sorry to hear about your spoiled yard.
Shame on your neighbors, if you can call them that.
I will have some ferns for you too when we next meet for a swap.
Bonnie

Kimka, I wonder if your neighbors refuse to give you the name of the tree company because said company was not licensed/bonded/insured, that sort of thing? Maybe this 'company' is some friends/family members of theirs who are doing this illegally. All the tree companies I've seen have trucks/vans with the company name and other info on it. I would think that if you'd seen such a vehicle in the neighbor's driveway, you'd remember it.
Last summer (2009) I had a tree taken down along my driveway. I was expecting a bit of trampling in the adjoining garden area. Imagine my surprise when I saw none! This wasn't a big tree though.

The company actually finished their work before I got home, so I couldn't get the name off the truck. I wondered about the company not being licensed too when the neighbors refused to to provide the name. But it turns out they are just buttheads in general.

On advice of a lawyer friend, I sent them three emails and a letter formaslly asking for the tree company name and contact information. They finaly responded with another comment that "if I would stop being hostile, they would be willing to discuss having some plants replaced for me."

That was when I wrote them and explained about Maryland law on having dangerous work done (which includes tree removal) and that their continued refusal to name th ecompany leaves them legally liable and they would get the notice of suit in the mail shortly.

Surprise, they gave up the name. The tree company was appalled at the damge when they came to look. They've fixed the trees as best as possible (took one down as unfixable) and gave me a chord of firewood delivered and stack for the plants they destroyed.

I'm almost sorry that the buttheads gave up th ename. I would love to have seen them tell the judge they get to deicde what fix is called for.

Now to replant the area (after the fall swap).