In April of 2000, a young mother of three sons was driving to see her oldest play on the high school baseball team against an archrival, after having put in a full day of work at a textile plant. The day had been moderately windy since late morning -- a common weather feature that time of year -- and as she drove around the last turn on the back of the high school campus toward the parking lot only a hundred yards away, a large, dead-standing pine tree snapped and came crashing down across the windshield of the family minivan. Jagged broken branches, called snags, pierced the windshield and pinned the mother hard against the driver's seat. Her young son, shocked and terrified, jumped out of the van and ran for help, just as others who had heard the commotion from the ball field were sprinting toward the van, now crushed by the huge pine.

Two nurses, also mothers of other high school baseball players, ran to administer first aid and to comfort their friend trapped in the vehicle. They quickly saw her plight and knew that she had massive internal injuries and was going into shock, though there was no visible wound or open trauma. EMS arrived from their substation only minutes away, and within fifteen minutes, were speeding the injured mother to the hospital Emergency Room, about 18 miles away.

The surgeons worked heroically for five hours to save the mother's life. Her fate, however, was cast the moment she was hit by the huge tree. Her mesenteric artery, which branches out and supplies the intestines, was damaged beyond repair. Despite all efforts, including three additional surgeries, two of which were performed at a major medical university teaching hospital, the mother passed away.

Carley & Rabon were retained to represent the family after the attorney who originally represented the family referred the case. We thoroughly studied numerous photographs taken at the scene, picking apart and analyzing every minute detail. During our investigation, we retained a leading Registered Forester who was experienced in evaluating the health of trees and urban forests. The forester was on the scene shortly after the incident and determined that upwards of 10-15% of the entire stand of trees, approximately 30 to 50 of the entire population in the stand, were dead fallen, dead standing, or otherwise in poor condition.

We also retained on our team an internationally renowned expert in the field of arboriculture, hazardous trees, and forest pathology. This expert, a university professor and former president of the International Society of Arboriculture (the ISA), has written and lectured extensively around the world on urban forestry, tree care, landscape maintenance and similar tree topics. Finally, we retained a climatology (weather) expert to evaluate the frequency and expectedness of gusting winds on the day in question. Among his other credentials, this individual was the former Director of the U.S. Government's National Climatic Center.

Boiled down to its essence, the defense in this case was that the killer tree was apparently healthy, the wind blew more strongly that day than it ever had, and that the unfortunate death of our family's wife and mother was an unforeseeable Act of God. The evidence, as in many such cases, proved otherwise.

This wrongful death case was aggressively investigated and thoroughly litigated in discovery. For instance, we uncovered a letter report prepared by the North Carolina Forestry Division of an inspection made on the tree, revealing the opinion that "the loblolly pine in question had been dead for an extended period" prior to the incident. Although this was a public document prepared by a state employee, the defense had sought to conceal its existence from us. After we independently came upon the document, coupled with the defense's failure to designate a proper witness in a deposition, we were awarded sanctions by the court from the defendant.

The attorneys at Carley & Rabon dug and found a somewhat obscure, but clearly applicable, School Board policy which required "Regular inspections of buildings and grounds to respond to potential safety hazards, and maintenance need," -- a policy that was inexcusably ignored.

We ultimately assembled the evidence to prove that the tree that fell was at least the third tree to have fallen in the immediate vicinity on campus, and that pine beetles had infested the stand within the last one to two years. The stand of trees was in poor condition and was an ominous threat to anyone who passed nearby. There was no excuse for failing to inspect and maintain the premises in a safe condition for the benefit of any person -- students, parents, employees and visitors -- present on the campus.

The dead standing tree that killed our clients' wife and mother was apparently and obviously dead to anyone who took the time to look at it. Its bark was slipping and was bare in many places. There were no green needles on this tree. There were several other dead-standing trees, snags and stumps in the immediate vicinity in this stand, and there were many dead fallen trees on the ground within the stand. Several witnesses were prepared to testify that other trees had fallen across the same roadway within the prior year.

Because of the overwhelming assemblage of evidence that we mined, liability against the landowner - a local Board of Education - became clear. We put together a persuasive Video Settlement Brochure along with an accompanying handbook and, after two lengthy mediation sessions that totaled some 14 hours, the wrongful death claim was settled for a significant amount of money that ensures the financial future of the family. In addition, we required as a non-negotiable part of the settlement that the school system implement a policy mandating the annual inspection of trees on all their properties to identify and remediate hazardous trees.

This case was resolved favorably and with an outcome that attempts to ensure that it should never happen again in this particular school district. However, the tragedy which lies at the core of the lawsuit -- a young mother's untimely death -- was completely preventable. Through diligence, tenacity, and plain hard work, we proved clearly the negligence of the landowner -- the local Board of Education.

Hazardous trees must be inspected and remediated or the landowner can be held accountable under premises liability. There is no excuse for not taking care of hazardous trees, which are defined as trees that have some defect or condition that makes them prone to failure and which are located in a place where they could cause property damage or personal injury should they fail. Dead, dying and diseased trees and trees with serious structural defects will fail at some point, because trees are living things and will someday either fall or be cut down.

Hazardous trees should be dealt with and safely removed by qualified persons as soon as they are identified. Property owners and managers have a responsibility and legal obligation to periodically inspect for hazardous trees and to immediately remedy the defects and unsafe conditions as soon as they are identified.

Carley & Rabon have experience in representing families and individuals that have been injured or suffered loss due to tree falls and failures.

If you believe you have a case, you should consult with a qualified and experienced lawyer. Carley & Rabon welcomes you to contact us for a free consultation on any property damage, personal injury, or wrongful death involving the fall or failure of a tree.