The recent 2 day ice storm we had tuesday thru thurs DID do a little damage in my back yard to my grand old oak I have. It crushed about 16 feet of my neighbor's fence to the ground with 4 large branches. However, even tho it's my tree that damaged her property, I am not liable to repair her fence nor clean up the debris because of a state law called a "tort liability law" that states the owner of the tree is not responsible if someone else's property is damaged by acts of nature. Even if it's their house. In any case, my neighbor is a very nice lady and I feel awful because of what has happened even tho I had no control over the incident, so I told her the very least I could do is clean everything up for her and I told her I would try to locate some repair parts to assist with repairing her fence. Good tip to remember folks. If you live in a state that has ice storms or other damaging natural phenomena that could cause your property to damage someone else's,check your liability laws(your insurance agent will know) to see if your state has this liability immunity law. It can be valuable to know this information to find out whose liable for repairs if you or your neighbor's property is damaged inadvertantly. |