Timber trespass

Definition

Treble damages for cutting a neighbor's tree, lowered if the crew had good reason to believe it was not.

Why It Matters

A tree crew's stranger is the neighbor, and two states price a mistake about the line at three times the loss. Washington trebles the damages for cutting, girdling or carrying off any tree, timber or shrub on another person's land without lawful authority, and the same goes for a tree on the street in front of a house or on a city's public grounds. It drops to single damages where the trespass was casual or involuntary, or the crew had probable cause to believe the land was its customer's. California also trebles, and the same excuses only bring it down to double. Reliance on a boundary survey by a licensed land surveyor, procured by the crew or by the customer it worked for, brings it down to the actual loss. A California claim can be filed up to five years after the cut, so claims from the seller's removals can arrive long after closing, and the purchase agreement decides who answers them. Ask how the crews confirm the line before a removal near it, and for every boundary complaint in five years.