Morrison Mahoney Associate Elias Papakostas recently secured a defense verdict in a neighbor-versus-neighbor tree dispute after a hearing on the merits in the Dover District Division.

Plaintiff claimed that our client should be responsible for property damage caused by trees that fell from the insured’s property onto the plaintiff’s property.  Prior to the hearing, plaintiff sought injunctive relief in the form of a demand that insured address trees along his property line; he also sought to amend his complaint to expand his claimed damages to include additional elements.

Elias successfully defeated those efforts. At the final hearing, plaintiff presented his own testimony and testimony from his deacon to support his claims concerning the trees. Despite this, Elias was able to persuade the Court that the plaintiff had failed to meet his burden of proving that defendant knew or should have known the trees were a hazard and should be liable for the falling trees.  The Court issued a detailed written decision and entered judgment in favor of our client.