If your tree falls on your neighbor’s house, can you be sued? This is becoming a popular question in light of the recent harsh weather. The answer depends on your actions prior to the fall and the condition of the tree. Pennsylvania requires landowners who adjoin developed or residential properties to exercise reasonable care by inspecting the trees on their property which might fall on a neighbor’s property and cause damage. A landowner exercises reasonable care if he makes a visual inspection and removes or repairs any tree showing damage, decay, or disease suggesting that the tree poses an unreasonable risk to neighboring property.
If a tree falls and damages your neighbor’s property, you have liability only if the defect that caused the tree to fall could have been discovered by a visual inspection. If a tree looks perfectly healthy from the outside and the landowner has no other reason to suspect it is not healthy, then an El Niño driven storm snaps the tree over revealing that it is completely rotted on the inside, the landowner is unlikely to be responsible for the damage to the neighbor’s shed that lies crushed under the tree.
The lesson here is clear: If you have a 200 year old oak tree which succumbed to the drought of 1995 and is leaning toward your neighbor’s house, you had better call your tree service –otherwise your may have to call your lawyer!