Hi everyone,
I’m relatively new to Bergen County (less than a year) and also pretty new to suburban/homeowner life in general, so I’m looking for some advice on a conflict with a neighbor involving tree removal.
My property has a large number of dead or dying trees due to water issues and ash tree disease. Last winter was especially windy, and I had multiple incidents of branches and even whole trees falling. One actually hit my roof, which pushed me to finally address the problem properly.
After consulting with the town, I went through the permit process and hired a licensed and insured tree company that came highly recommended. In total, there were over 50 trees identified for removal. Work started this Monday and continued through Wednesday. I even took PTO Monday and Tuesday so I could personally monitor the project and make sure everything was being done safely and professionally. Honestly, I was impressed with how careful the crew was — they used cranes, tied trees off before cutting, and were extremely methodical.
This morning around 8 AM, one of my neighbors texted me saying:
>
He then added that a tree had fallen onto his fence and wanted my company to remove it and repair the damage.
At first, I assumed maybe my contractor accidentally dropped something onto his property. Even though it didn’t really make sense based on what I had seen, I figured accidents can happen. I apologized immediately and told him my contractor is insured and we’d investigate.
The company supervisor was actually very cooperative and willing to cover damages if their crew caused them.
But after looking into it further, here’s what we found:
- The tree that fell was not on my property and not one of the trees being removed (located in the mutual neighbor).
- The tree’s base/root system (literally the tree is not close to the work zone at all) was roughly 30+ feet away from the active work area.
- The tree appears to have naturally snapped due to wind. Tuesday had gusts over 35 mph, and the break itself looks jagged/fibrous like a natural break — not cut by equipment or chainsaw.
- The area is heavily wooded, and there’s really no realistic way a crane or machine could selectively impact only that single dead tree without affecting surrounding trees. no other part of the fallen tree has other broken tree or fractures.
Once I explained this, the neighbor became very hostile and threatened to:
- call the town to shut down the project,
- call the police,
- sue me,
- and take me to small claims court.
He also claimed his wife witnessed everything and that they had video footage. Later, it turned out they apparently do not actually have video footage, and now they’re mainly claiming she was an eyewitness.
What confuses me is that if this supposedly happened in broad daylight and they were genuinely concerned, nobody approached me or the crew at the time. I was home the entire project except when briefly at work this morning, and my family was also around.
At this point, both husband and wife have been repeatedly texting me, threatening legal action and insisting I’m responsible simply because tree work was happening nearby.
I told them that if they believe my contractor caused the damage, they should communicate directly with the contractor and their insurance/attorney. But they seem focused on pursuing me personally regardless of the facts.
I’m honestly trying to be a reasonable neighbor here, but I also don’t think I should pay for damage caused by a dead tree that:
- wasn’t mine,
- wasn’t being removed,
- and appears to have naturally fallen during a windy day.
Has anyone dealt with something similar in NJ/Bergen County? Am I missing something legally here? Any advice or opinions would be appreciated.
