Lawyer Rules

[WRITER'S NOTE: The following is a partial account of an actual letter written, I suspect, from my neighbor's lawyer over said neighbor's tree threatening my house. It states the facts, is tongue-in-cheek, and ends with some reflections and questions on how things could have played out differently.  My hope is simply that this may help others who deal with problems with neighbors before involving lawyers.]

What a disappointment to get a letter from a lawyer written supposedly by my neighbor over a dangerous tree.  While a phone call and timely addressing of the issue would have gone a long way to solving the problem, this was unfortunately not the case.  Ultimately, a letter from a lawyer should be a last resort and has only served to shut down meaningful dialogue and alienated both neighbors going forward.

Background: There remains today, a large mostly dead Ash tree overhanging our house. Last February, a violent windstorm caused a cascade of branches and debris to rain down onto our roof and property.  The tree sits on her side of a stone wall and while a survey has never been done, neither of us dispute the wall as the boundary of our properties.  So many branches were hitting the roof, my daughter refused to sleep in her upstairs bedroom.  It was indeed, the only time I've ever been afraid in my own home.

Come Spring, I lobbied for the tree to be cut down.  I received estimates between $1,600-$1,800 of which I offered to pay half.  My neighbor complained about money and said she'd get back to me (I sensed this would be difficult).  Summer came and went with no reply.  This September, a relatively small branch
fell and punctured the metal casing of my grill and the grill cover tarp. Result: $84 damage. I called and left a message saying we had minor damage and I wanted resolution before Winter.  My wife called and spoke directly to the neighbor reiterating our concerns.  I now had a second cost estimate which would involve me in assisting a tree pruner to save money.  Finally, I called again and left another message: I would work with a pruner to remove only threatening branches for a total cost of $500.

A few days later, I received a certified letter (never a good sign) on a neatly typed legal envelope.  Inside was a perfectly typed 3 paragraph letter.


The purpose of the first paragraph was a complete unwillingness to take any responsibility for damage to the grill cover.   

Rule 1: Never take responsibility for any damages. Letter states "By no means was it (payment) an admission of responsibility for the tree, or for any damages that result...".  A good lawyer states this first, right up front.

Rule 2: Deny legal basis for any action.
"As far as I know, there is no evidence that this tree is on my land...".  It seems silly to make the argument to not recognize a border which, up until this point, has been recognized.  Of course, the current circumstances do make it awfully inconvenient to recognize it!

Rule 3: Accuse contra party of claiming a desire to assign liability and blame towards neighbor.
"...since you have shown a tendency to want me to be liable for minor property damage that I do not consider my responsibility...".  Well, would it have been better to wait until a tree branch went through my roof?  Or if a branch hit a person?  Were you actually wanting major damage before acting?

Rule 4: Establish firm rules prohibiting all access, for any reason, to property.
"I must plainly state that I do not give my permission for you, the members of your family or any of your agents to use my land... at any time... for any purpose.".  That would be fine, except, according to you, we don't really know where your land begins and mine ends!

Rule 5: Express sympathy with the situation and state unqeuivocably that compensation is a gift.
"I am truly sorry that the situation has reached this conclusion...I am sending a check for $250...Please keep in mind, however, that it is a gift to you from me personally."  Well, I've never been given a gift from any other neighbor for no good reason so I guess I'm really glad to know you!  I actually understand the lawyer needing to state this but it is so phony it is almost laughable.

Aside from me paying 100%, how could I have avoided this?  Was it inevitable?  How could I have handled things differently?  I mean, I couldn't just ignore it and let something serious happen.  We felt threatened everytime there was a storm.    Due to circumstances, we are both relatively new neighbors to each other (neither of us has lived in our respective homes much the past 2 years). 

I am a bit sad because I never wanted to allow petty things like this come between neighbors.  We both examined this situation from our own self-interest.  As a result, we were both blinded to the plight of our neighbor.