Ohio Neighbor Threatens Homeowners With Legal Action When a Storm-Damaged Tree Branch Is Left Dangling Over Her Yard, Raising Questions Over Whose Responsibility the Branch Is to Deal With and Who Bears Liability if it Falls

In this story shared with a popular online community where people ask others for advice, this homeowner explained how a storm had snapped a branch from a large tree that is on the corner of their lot, but that hangs well over into the neighbor's property. Because it was near utility lines, they called the electrical company, who came and inspected the branch and concluded that it wasn't a danger to the power lines, so it wasn't up to them to deal with.

The homeowners decided not to do anything about it either and left it for the neighbor to deal with since it was on her side. But their lack of response and the fact that they weren't taking the situation seriously only served to stir the situation up more and more.

This presents a difficult situation since the fact that it is over the fence makes it likely the neighbor's issue to sort out. But putting anything in writing or extending an olive branch and offering to help out would basically be an admission of the fact that there is a problem that needs to be addressed and could lead to bigger legal issues were something else to happen. Still, the fact that the neighbor is already documenting possible future problems could mean that their lack of action could also backfire.

The original post, along with some of the advice they received, can be seen below.

Neighbor is threatening legal action over tree branches.

Location: Perrysburg, Ohio

A couple [of] months ago there was a bad storm, and it snapped a tree branch on the very large tree in our backyard. The next day, a neighbor knocked on our door and let us know (we can't really see that from inside our house, so we didn't know). 

She was concerned because the tree branch was hanging down near some power lines/ cable lines. We told her we would call someone, so we called the electric company to come out, and they said that it didn't look like it was endangering the cables, so they wouldn't do anything. The branch was clearly also broken such that if it fell, it would miss the cables by a fair bit.

We left it at that because the branch was not in our yard, in fact, it was not in her yard either it was hanging over a different neighbor's yard.

Fast forward to last night, she knocks on our door and hands me a letter and says that we aren't doing anything about our tree and that the other neighbor apparently cut that branch down finally and threw it in her yard.

She complained to that neighbor, saying it's our tree, so the other neighbor took back the branch and cut it up. She says she's 80 years old and living alone, so she can't do anything about the branches herself. The letter then goes on to say that she is going to pay someone to come out and cut the branches she is worried about, and that she will sue us for the cost of doing so.

The tree to me looks healthy, and I don't see anything dangerous-looking about any of the branches. It's a very large tree and sometimes branches fall off it in storms.

I'm not really sure what to do other than call people out to [assess] the health of the tree and the risk to the power lines.

Feels like she is just being paranoid, which I'm happy to help a neighbor, but since she's threatening legal action, I want to make sure all my ducks are in a row.

Thank you for any advice.

The homeowner's roommate shared these extra details about the situation. 

CassAFrassy29

Hello, I live with OP and can provide some additional details:

There’s no damaged branches currently threatening the lines. The tree is right at the corner of our property and splits into four wide trunks. Lots of the tree branches spread wide into other yards as a result. Part of the tree grows through the lines but doesn’t touch. I have to imagine this was the case when the pole was put up, but unsure.

From pure observation, the tree is healthy with leaves and no concern to structure. She alleges dead branches but we’re gonna have someone assess this to be certain on the tree’s health and any risks posed.

We intend to be good neighbors, meaning if the tree branches fall into her yard (mind you there’s no fence there to damage) we would happily come and remove them per her request. We also intend to make sure any immediate risks are taken care of.

OP spoke to the neighbor in person, and after realizing what was happening and reading the letter, I spoke to her on the phone. I explained we did call the electric company and that I will call again in addition to calling someone to examine the tree’s health and assist in providing a quote for us for anything they feel should be removed. She informed me she had called the electric company, cable company, and the city already about this and naturally there was nothing anyone offered to do. She explained that prior to our moving in that a different tree on our property had a branch fall and damage her fence, so I’d imagine this is the cause for sensitivity. The tree she takes issue with would not damage her fence as the fence does not extend to the tree or run along the back of her property line.

Again to clarify, the branch that broke initially is gone. Current state of the tree is there is no broken branch from what we can see from our yard (I’m not about to risk trespassing into hers or any other neighbor’s). You can see where branches in the past had been removed- likely due to the placing of the electric pole next to the tree and the associated wires. No wires touch any of the tree. The biggest risk from what we can tell is the internet wire running you our house, across our yard, which hangs low and under a branch hanging quite far over it.