Many people share a love of trees for their shade, their greenery, their beauty — which is why outrage is often the reaction when they’re maliciously cut down.
Such incidents are more common than people might think. In a recent case on the Massachusetts island of Nantucket, a man was criminally charged for cutting down his neighbors’ trees to improve the views from his own property. He then listed the house for nearly $10 million.
There’s a name for this kind of violation: “timber trespass.”
It’s the legal specialty of New Hampshire lawyer Israel Piedra, who spoke with NPR’s Morning Edition.
Piedra said timber trespass cases are “very common,” although the Nantucket incident, as well as a similar case in Maine in which a rich couple poisoned the trees of another rich neighbor to get a better view of a harbor, represent a “level of egregiousness” that is more rare, he added.
A typical timber trespass case involves negligence or potential recklessness, such as by not conducting a property survey before removing a tree.
“Generally, it has to do with a neighbor not knowing where the property line is, or perhaps even potentially knowing that [a tree] is probably on their neighbor’s property, but plowing ahead and sticking their head in the sand and cutting down the trees anyway,” noted Piedra, who estimates he has two dozen active timber trespass cases.
When people intentionally cut down their neighbors’ trees without permission, that’s known as “willfully intentionality,” Piedra said.
“My clients almost always think that it’s willful,” he added, “but it’s very difficult to prove.”
Few timber trespass cases lead to criminal charges, Piedra said, because prosecutors must prove intent, and people accused of wrongfully cutting down trees often claim that they thought they had permission to do so, or that the tree-cutting was a misunderstanding.
In the Nantucket case, criminal charges were filed because the defendant cut down such a wide swath of his neighbors’ trees, including some not on his property line, that “it was very difficult to impossible for him to argue that it was an accident,” Piedra explained.
Property insurance rules can also complicate the situation. Some homeowner insurance policies will compensate homeowners whose trees were cut down accidentally, but not trees that were intentionally damaged or removed without permission, according to Piedra.
Because of that, it “isn’t to [the victim’s] benefit to allege or prove willfulness, because then the neighbor’s insurance coverage is not going to cover them,” Piedra said, “and so it becomes advantageous to my clients to concede that this was negligent and not intentional.”
For that reason, many cases often resolve with civil fines or settlements. In the Maine tree-poisoning case, for example, the defendants paid a fine of more than $1.5 million — and kept their harbor view.
Piedro said many people whose trees were cut without their permission are satisfied with financial compensation, especially if they can avoid going to court and recover tens of thousands of dollars for just a few trees. Still, he added, “a lot of folks do feel like no amount of money can put back the trees that were lost.”
His advice for anyone who thinks they have a timber trespass case: “Call a lawyer. Make sure that you document everything. Make sure you actually know where your property line is, and usually that means getting a survey. Unfortunately, it’s your burden to prove that someone came onto your property, and your back-of-the-napkin-type calculations probably aren’t going to cut it, in a legal sense.”
These cases, particularly ones involving wealthy warring neighbors, tend to stir public outrage, Piedra said, because “people are taken aback by the disrespect that someone would show by thinking they had the right to go onto someone’s property and destroy … a living thing like a tree that a lot of people have emotional attachments to.”
“One day they have a beautiful tree. The next day, it’s destroyed,” he added. “And there’s no way to get that back.”
Barry Gordemer produced the radio interview and Majd Al-Waheidi edited it for the web.
Transcript:
SACHA PFEIFFER, HOST:
Many people have a love of trees. So outrage is often the reaction when trees are maliciously cut down, including a recent case on the island of Nantucket, where criminal charges have been filed against a man accused of chopping down his neighbor’s trees to improve the views from his property. It’s called timber trespass and it’s a legal specialty of New Hampshire lawyer Israel Piedra, who’s on the line. Attorney Piedra, good morning.
ISRAEL PIEDRA: Good morning.
PFEIFFER: Several cases of the intentional, spiteful cutting down of trees have made national headlines. A major one last year, which I’m sure you know, involved a rich couple in coastal Maine poisoning the trees of a rich neighbor to get a better view of a harbor. How common is this?
PIEDRA: That level of egregiousness is pretty uncommon, Sacha. Generally, it has to do with a neighbor not knowing where the property line is or perhaps even potentially knowing that it’s probably on their neighbor’s property, but plowing ahead and sticking their head in the sand and cutting down the trees anyway.
PFEIFFER: How many of those do you think were unintentional versus intentional, or at least they willfully did it and knew that their neighbor wouldn’t like it?
PIEDRA: My clients almost always think that it’s willful. But it actually isn’t to their benefit to allege or prove willfulness because then the neighbor’s insurance coverage is not going to cover them. So it becomes advantageous to my clients to kind of concede that this was negligent and not intentional.
PFEIFFER: Oh, that’s interesting. Insurance will cover negligence, but not an intentional act of cutting down a tree?
PIEDRA: Correct, similarly to if you are in a car and you intentionally go onto the sidewalk to hit someone. It’s not going to cover you – your auto insurance. But if you hit someone accidentally, it will.
PFEIFFER: In that Nantucket case we mentioned, it actually involves criminal charges for cutting 16 mature trees down to stumps. But I’ve read that usually these cases resolve with a civil fine or a settlement. Why aren’t more people criminally charged for doing this?
PIEDRA: So criminal charges require a showing of some sort of criminal intent. And generally, when faced with these accusations, the neighbor says, I thought what I was doing was OK, or, I thought I had permission and I misunderstood. And it’s very difficult to prove they intended or knew what they were doing. In the case in Nantucket, the neighbor didn’t just cut trees on his property line. He went all the way to the other side of the property that didn’t border his property and cut down the trees. There, it was very difficult to argue that it was an accident.
PFEIFFER: The main case we mention, that involved a couple poisoning the trees – they paid a civil fine of more than $1.5 million, but they still got their ocean view. How adequate is a fine when many people consider the trees on their property priceless?
PIEDRA: It’s a good question. And it’s exacerbated by the fact that in many states, these laws historically are meant to address timber theft, where 200 years ago or 300 years ago, loggers were stealing trees from people’s land for lumber for market use. And so a lot of times, the law hasn’t really caught up to the fact that most trees – at least in residential settings – aren’t meant for market value, but are meant for privacy and shade and ornamentation and things like that.
PFEIFFER: Why do you think these types of cases, especially when they involve wealthy people acting badly, attract so much public attention and public anger?
PIEDRA: I think people are taken aback by the disrespect that someone would show by thinking they had the right to go onto someone’s property and destroy their property, especially a living thing like a tree that a lot of people have emotional attachments to. One day, they have a beautiful tree. The next day, it’s destroyed, and there’s no way to get that back.
PFEIFFER: Israel Piedra is a New Hampshire lawyer who specializes in representing people whose trees were cut down without their permission. Thank you.
PIEDRA: Thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF REDI HASA’S “DAJTI MOUNTAIN”)
