So basically he removed brush from your roadside ditch and widened the shoulder?
Is the road in the picture a city/township road or your private road in the middle of your property?
Was his semi trailer rubbing the trees around the bend?
Neighbor has elected to damage over 20 trees
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So basically he removed brush from your roadside ditch and widened the shoulder?
Is the road in the picture a city/township road or your private road in the middle of your property?
Was his semi trailer rubbing the trees around the bend?
If you look at his picture, there was some serious root damage to the trees in question. Trees in general and white pine in particular don't like that. Considering that he's already consulted a lawyer, it's likely that he knows or will know what legal right the guy had to do what he did.
:thumbsup:
OP
747driver
Veteran Member
Thanks all the feedback ! We live in a private development with a private road that each home owner uses to access their property. We live in a remote part of the county where the local gov't has very little oversight. The covenants for the development state if any road work is to be done all the property owners need to be notified and come to a agreement for the work.
Glad I have posted this thread as everyone keeps asking me what the "right of way or easement " is. So I went into our files of the development survey and there it was in fine print 50 ft R. O. W !! Now that clears up a main question. That being said.....I don't think the neighbor has a right to come across the road and widen it and damage the trees, so in his own words he said...I need a bigger area to turn into my property. He never sent notification to all the land owners on what his intentions were.
We are not going to rush into anything and the lawyer agreed. Like replies here have said....make sure you have all the facts and data !! This isn't the only problem we have had with him....as he likes to provoke confrontation. The lawyer wants to serve him with a temporary injunction to stay off our property. Also said we need to be careful how we handle this as it may lead to further and bigger issues.
Its the principal of what he has done with no regards for other peoples property. That being said ...I don't want to drain my retirement away over 25 trees ! So hopefully we can get to a happy medium.
Glad I have posted this thread as everyone keeps asking me what the "right of way or easement " is. So I went into our files of the development survey and there it was in fine print 50 ft R. O. W !! Now that clears up a main question. That being said.....I don't think the neighbor has a right to come across the road and widen it and damage the trees, so in his own words he said...I need a bigger area to turn into my property. He never sent notification to all the land owners on what his intentions were.
We are not going to rush into anything and the lawyer agreed. Like replies here have said....make sure you have all the facts and data !! This isn't the only problem we have had with him....as he likes to provoke confrontation. The lawyer wants to serve him with a temporary injunction to stay off our property. Also said we need to be careful how we handle this as it may lead to further and bigger issues.
Its the principal of what he has done with no regards for other peoples property. That being said ...I don't want to drain my retirement away over 25 trees ! So hopefully we can get to a happy medium.
newbury
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I agree, especially since there is a 50' ROW and a 12' wide actual road. That gives 19' on either side.
So now it reads like he failed to notify everyone and have them come to an agreement. Which he probably knew all would come to an agreement.
I agree with your lawyer - tread carefully. Despite the quote
it looks like maybe $50 worth of timber.
Heck, he might decide to charge you for the road improvement.
Yes, he should have asked but you should have known about the 50' ROW.
OP
747driver
Veteran Member
I agree, especially since there is a 50' ROW and a 12' wide actual road. That gives 19' on either side.
So now it reads like he failed to notify everyone and have them come to an agreement. Which he probably knew all would come to an agreement.
I agree with your lawyer - tread carefully. Despite the quote it looks like maybe $50 worth of timber.
Heck, he might decide to charge you for the road improvement.
Yes, he should have asked but you should have known about the 50' ROW.
So now I ask....just because there is a 50' ROW you have the right to do anything you wish within that 50' ? Even though your property is part of that 50'ROW ?
plowhog
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What you said here is really wise and important. Once you start a lawsuit you may regret it as the time and expense piles up with progress that is typically slow or worse. I have been there and don't ever want to get back into that.
It sounds like you have somewhat remote rural property with some informal and vague language about the road. And nothing in writing to explain how a 50 foot ROW could exist when it must take your land to fulfill that. Do you just lose your land? Sounds like there is nothing in writing.
I would make every possible effort to settle this myself with the neighbor. Maybe enlist the help of fellow neighbors who agree on how to manage the road, then have that group approach the offending neighbor. Ask lots of questions and find out *exactly* what this neighbor wants to do. Maybe it is close to conclusion and if so, you might need to swallow hard and come away with an agreement for the neighbor not to do work beyond what was agreed to.
You have two problems: the neighbor, and poor language / documentation. In my experience it is going to be tough and expensive to try to resolve those issues in a court. And with a 50 foot ROW, I doubt that a criminal charge would go anywhere, and it might make things worse if the neighbor gets even more belligerent.
newbury
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If one needs to pass they should be able to. OBVIOUSLY he was supposed to get YOUR agreement to clear it so he could pass, but probably figured it wasn't worth asking.
How much are those 25 trees costing so far in lawyers fees?
EddieWalker
Epic Contributor
From what I understand, the answer is yes. The person who has the ROW can do what he wants inside the ROW to maintain it.
When I lived in CA, a friend had a ROW though a city Park to get to his land, that was 100% surrounded by the Park. The Park wanted his land and started harrassing him. Park Rangers where sent to give him tickets for driving on his ROW, then they installed gates and tried to lock him up, and then sate there and watched him cut their locks, and then wrote him tickets for destroying their locks. He took them to court and won every time because he has a ROW to get to his land.
I forget why, but he decided to widen the road and improve it getting to his land. We cut down all sorts of trees that belonged to the Park and they really freaked out. They sent helicopters with Park Rangers to arrest us, but they also had half a dozen Park Rangers, a Game Warden and several Sheriffs there in their vehicles. The owner of the land was the former city planner for Oakland and he truly enjoyed the game of messing with the Park. He knew his rights, he knew the law, he knew what his easement was, and best of all, they all knew that he knew this. They where bluffing, they tried to intimidate him, and he told them that he needed the road to be able to get a fire truck to his place!!!! That stopped them cold, and sure enough, he had that documentation too. They made us stop working for the day, but by the next weekend, his lawyer had been to the Judge and we where back to cutting down trees and branches with at least two Park Rangers parked up on the hill watching us the entire time.
Eventually the Park took his land through Eminent Domain, and that started another battle on what the land was worth.
I have no idea what the law is in Tennessee, but my guess is that the person with the ROW can do what he wants, and just like a neighbor in a city with a big tree on their side of the fence line, you can cut branches that might lead to the death of the tree, but you cannot cross over the fence to remove the tree. Sounds like he did something like that with the roots of your trees that are on his ROW.
daybreak1998
Silver Member
Howdy,
You need to back off and sit tight. That 50ft right of way is spelled out.
"The covenants for the development state if any road work is to be done all the property owners need to be notified and come to a agreement for the work"
That would be something which all landowners would pay for. Say everyone agrees to 100 tons of gravel. 10 properties, 10 bills. That property owner is doing work and is not billing anyone. Truthfully, you should know that the entire 50ft right of way could be completely cleared without issue. Whether it is your trees or not is not of issue. Your lawyer should have already told you that. You might need to look for a different lawyer.
Tread lightly. 50ft right of way is a large area.
You need to back off and sit tight. That 50ft right of way is spelled out.
"The covenants for the development state if any road work is to be done all the property owners need to be notified and come to a agreement for the work"
That would be something which all landowners would pay for. Say everyone agrees to 100 tons of gravel. 10 properties, 10 bills. That property owner is doing work and is not billing anyone. Truthfully, you should know that the entire 50ft right of way could be completely cleared without issue. Whether it is your trees or not is not of issue. Your lawyer should have already told you that. You might need to look for a different lawyer.
Tread lightly. 50ft right of way is a large area.
