Limbs and trees fail. It happens all the time as a natural process of nature, and it’s a good thing, unless there is somebody or something under the limb or the tree. When that occurs, it is seldom viewed as an accident by the person who was the object of stopping gravity or their surviving […]
Category: Legal
Beyond the Landmark Court Case, Daubert
October 12, 2021It is not necessary that you be a testifying expert well credentialed in a particular subject matter or a marquee consultant known across the land for your brilliance. However, you should have at least a passing knowledge of the landmark court case, Daubert (versus Merrill Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc.). Daubert is a United States Supreme Court […]
Litigating the Garden of Eden
September 20, 2021Can you imagine litigating the Garden of Eden? There were enough issues and problems that Adam and Eve had regarding the protected fruit in the Garden of Eden. Fortunately for them and all concerned, no attorneys were involved in the population mix of individuals considering the consumption of produce in the Garden. The lure of […]
Why Does a Tree Fall?
July 9, 2021Why does a tree fall? After the hustle and bustle of determining legal positioning in a wrongful death or personal injury matter regarding tree failures, this question inevitably comes up. Could the failure have been predicted within a reasonable amount of certainty before the incident occurred? Were the defects open and obvious? Were the defects […]
Insurance Claims and Trends
June 30, 2021Perhaps it is just me, but there seems to be a greater number of claims without merit occurring than typically is seen in the marketplace. You know, the claimant is being what appears to be less than honest. I have noted a substantial uptick in claims like this recently. As many claims agents already are […]
Rules for Working the Streets
February 6, 2021Did you know there are rules for working the streets? There are very few things we are good at doing. We may well list a long litany of our areas of expertise, but we must always remember that true expertise is knowing more and more about less and less. And so it came to pass […]
Trees and Neighbors
January 31, 2021When talking about trees and neighbors, most diligent arborists are aware of what self-help means. Self-help is the only available option when managing an uncooperative neighbor whose tree is encroaching onto or into an adjoining property owner’s land. Of course, it is incumbent upon each of us to attempt a mutual agreement between two neighbors […]
Species Profiling
January 7, 2021We are all aware that racial profiling ranks high in news and in social awareness but can species profiling be an issue with arboriculture and the courts? This question came to bear in a recent insurance company assignment I had regarding the failure of a Water oak (Quercus nigra) when a part of the subject […]
Of Watermelons and Eminent Domain Takings
December 1, 2020This assignment concerns a mediation conducted in an eminent domain matter. You know, that area of our laws that is so important to the constitution that 12 members of the jury are seated, just as in a capital offense like death. In this matter, a tree farm and plant nursery were condemned to make way […]
Desktop Review: Landscape Architects Beware
November 17, 2020Landscape Architects Beware: An attorney defending a landscape installer for breach of contract asked for my review of the matter. Mediation was three weeks away. The allegation was that the plant material installed in a new commercial project did not rise to the level of acceptance or marketability. That allegation was spot on. The attorney […]