Legal Question in Personal Injury in Massachusetts
If a tree on my property falls due to mother nature and damages my neighbors property, who is legally responsible for the paying for the damages? Does my homeowner's insurance cover the damages or does my neighbor's?
Thank you
Asked on 5/09/10, 7:09 am
1 Answer from Attorneys
For one party to be responsible to another there needs to be negligence. If you should have noticed the tree was dead or rotted or unsafe and did not take reasonable action, you could be liable to neighbor. Your neighbor has a right to trim that part of your tree which over his land. Typically your neighbor will have his Homeowners Insurance pay him, and then his HO will decide whether they think you were negligence and either sue you or not. At that point, you HO might be available to you. Good luck!
Answered on 5/17/10, 4:51 am