Damaged and Fallen Trees: Legal Rights in Maryland, Virginia, and DC

Homeowners in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC regularly face legal and practical issues related to potential tree damage, fallen trees, tree encroachment, and property-border disputes. Severe weather in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC can create havoc (through storms, wind, and snow), causing major damage from fallen trees and causing significant power outages when power lines are stricken by a tree branch during a storm. Tree removal and tree disputes have been the subject of many recent legal concerns in the Washington, DC Metropolitan Area, including several lawsuits being filed by homeowners in Maryland seeking to stop the certain utilities from removing trees and also massive winter storms creating tree damage. However, the primary legal disputes related to trees remain dangerous or fallen tree disagreements between property owners.

The primary questions that our property and litigation attorneys are asked to address related to trees are:

1. What are the legal rights of a property owner to remove or trim or alter their neighbor’s trees?
2. What are the potential liabilities of property owners when dangerous trees or fallen trees on their property threaten or actually cause damage to their neighbors?
3. What are a property owner’s rights when a neighbor is seeking a legal ability to remove a healthy tree on their property?

TREE DAMAGE LIABILITY IN MARYLAND

In Maryland, tree-damage liability was recently addressed by the former Maryland Attorney General who was asked to provide legal clarification about Maryland’s law in this area. Specifically, the Attorney General clarified that under Maryland law: the right or duty of a homeowner to cut a neighbor’s tree branches back to the established property line specifically depends on the condition of the tree and the nature of the two properties.

In Maryland, if a neighbor’s tree encroaches over the established property line and presents a danger to the homeowner or the property, the burden is on the property owner themselves to protect their property by cutting the invading branches, tree, or roots to the extent that the parts of the tree protrude on the homeowner’s property. While the property owner may be permitted to cut their neighbor’s encroaching branches, (1) the homeowner is generally limited to cutting back growth to the limit of the property line and (2) the homeowner may not enter their adjoining neighbor’s property to remove the growth without the neighbor’s consent.

In fact, in the Maryland case of Melnick v. C.S.X. Corp., the Maryland Court of Appeals specifically held that a property owner could not bring a lawsuit against a neighbor whose trees and other vegetation encroached and damaged their property.

In another case to further clarify Maryland’s law, the Maryland’s Court of Special Appeals in Hensley v. Montgomery County found that a owner of rural or suburban land (here in Potomac, Maryland) is not specifically liable for any damage done by a dead tree branch falling onto another property unless the tree constitutes a “danger to lawful users of abutting public roads and the owner is aware or should be aware of the tree’s deteriorated condition.” However, an important question left open by the Maryland court was: What duty does the landowner have relative to learning the health of the rural trees on their rural or suburban property?

Thus, in Maryland, an owner of rural or suburban forested land will usually not be liable for damage done by dead tree limbs or branches falling onto the property or persons of others. However, if the tree at issue constitutes a danger to lawful users of abutting public roads and the owner is aware or should be aware of the tree’s deteriorated condition, a urban homeowner may very well be liable for the same injury since the owner will likely have far fewer trees to inspect and, therefore, is seen to have a duty to know about the existence of dead or decaying trees on the property owner’s urban property.

TREE DAMAGE LIABILITY IN WASHINGTON, DC

Washington, DC (and Virginia) has less guidance than Maryland regarding tree damage or fallen trees liability. While Washington, DC formerly followed the same rule that Maryland follows (also called the “Massachusetts Rule”), in 1960, Washington, DC decided to follow a slightly different rule.

In 1960, the Washington, DC Court of Appeals stated in Dudley v. Meadowbrook, Inc.: “We think the sound and practical rule is that liability in such cases is to be determined by the test of negligence and that a landowner should be held to the duty of common prudence in maintaining his property, including trees thereon, in such a way as to prevent injury to his neighbor’s property.”

Therefore, Washington, DC courts simply ask, if necessary: “Did plaintiff make out a prima facie case to show that defendant landowners had been negligent?”  This Washington DC Tree Rule was supported by the DC Court of Appeals in 2008 in the case of Tolu v. Ayodeji. Thus, in Washington, DC, if a tree falls on a neighbor’s property, DC’s ordinary laws of negligence will apply.

TREE DAMAGE LIABILITY IN VIRGINIA

Virginia actually follows a different rule than Maryland or Virginia related to fallen trees and dangerous trees. In the 2007 case of Fancher v. Fagella, the Virginia Supreme Court held that where a neighbor’s tree on their property causes harm or poses an imminent danger of harm to an neighboring property, the tree’s owner “may be held responsible” for any harm caused by the fallen or dangerous tree. The Fancher court clarified that Virginia’s prior rule was specifically for: “times when the population was far less densely concentrated than at present, and more often engaged in agriculture.”

Further, just a few years ago, the Virginia Supreme Court decided not to extend the Fancher responsibility ruling to rural settings. Thus, both Virginia and Maryland have separate tree damages legal standards for rural and urban properties.

Evaluating the legal ramifications of damaged trees, fallen trees, or dangerous trees is complicated. Longman & Van Grack’s litigation attorneys consist of lawyers who have handled multiple property-based and tree-related litigation matters in courts throughout Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC. If you would like to discuss our property and litigation attorneys’ possible assistance with a litigation matter, call Longman & Van Grack’s attorneys today at (301) 291-5027 to schedule a consultation in our Maryland (Bethesda or Rockville), Virginia, or Washington, DC offices. Feel free to ask to speak with one of our property-based litigators directly: Adam Van Grack (Head of Litigation), Theodore Kiviat, or Sat Nam Khalsa.