farkin scumbag lawyer.
I hope the moving truck backs over him.

What's the problem here? They cut down a shared property boundary without consulting their neighbour? Should've just settled and been done with it.

But "at least we shall know the true boundaries when we put it on the market," Derwent told reporters after the hearing

yeah that's right, you showed them who's boss. I'm sure they won't screw around with the new neighbors that's for sure.

/dumbass

But I thought Americans wanted to adopt tort reform and a "loser pays" system.

Chewie BTW, in the UK he's a farkin scumbag solictor and you hope he gets backed over by a lorry. :)

They were in the wrong, they wouldn't settle, they appealed the first ruling, they sleep in a gutter. There's nothing wrong with that picture.

I agree with loabn. As a homeowner, if my neighbors were to damage my property like that, especially 25' of hedge that would take ages to grow back, I would expect reparations to be made, and if they refused and chose to argue the matter in court, I would be more than happy to do so.

They got what they deserved in this case, after all they could have accepted the initial ruling and saved themselves a lot of hassle.

Don't mess with the British and their hedges. That's tantamount to putting milk in their tea after you have poured it.

Couple ends up having to sell. It might sound plural, but it isn't.

damn they should have just appologized and offered to plant a new fully grown hedge to replace the one they cut down, or a fence or something.

Flubbie - noted

Thanks!

I'm a firm believer that good fences make for good neighbors.

This just proves that if there's a bustle in your hedgerow, don't be alarmed now.

But I thought Americans were the only idiot litigators around!

They must have been all lost in the supermarket.

a 25 foot hedge? that's gonna be pricey...you have to be pretty stupid to cut something like that down without permission.

Wooohooo!!! Flamewar over, hilarity ensues!

As a reclusive loner, I view the loss of privacy hedges as more serious than people knocking on my door (i call them "visitors"). me in the night you're a very odd duck. (and i mean that in the kindest possible sense)

What is it--Tort Reform Day here at Fark?

andonbray I live next door to a shady pawn shop and have discovered that fences make good nieghbors.

First off, I'm not gonna feel too sorry about anyone who lives in a million dollar house. If they can afford that, they can afford to hire someone to do their thinking for them so they won't come up with dumbass ideas like cutting down other people's hedges. Fark 'em.

Second, who in their right mind is gonna spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in lawyer's fees defending themselves in something like this? Apologize to the neighbour for cutting down his hedge, pay the bastard a thousand dollars or whatever to get a new one put up, and be done with it.

Geez, some people's kids, I swear...

If only a new type of lawyer, one that would not need to earn money, and had a well developed sense of justice...

Ever wonder why so many lawyers are proponents of strict gun control?

Now you know...

Rosalea
"damn they should have just appologized and offered to plant a new fully grown hedge to replace the one they cut down..."

Sounds like they live next to the Neighbor Who Says Ni. "You shall bring me ... A SHRUBBERY !"

It's the bush's fault

What a boner.

If someone did that shiat to my property, they'd be sucking the dirt off of the courtroom floor with their rectums.


/asshole

Damn you, mryoop789. Your speed is just as fast as my friend's speed, Biggus Dickus.

Not another Bush thread.

How can the legal bills from a cut down hedge cost US $600,000? The entire case just doesn't seem worth it.

tobcc:

How dare you solve your own problems without paying a lawyer to help! You must be a communist or something!

Maybe someone else can back me up or else set me straight. In the US, if your neighbor's tree has branches that extend to your property, you are within your rights to cut them off at the property line. Granted, there are better solutions, but perhaps they were just tired of solictor-guy not trimming the hedges.

me in the night, That's a lot to pay for "just a spring clean for the may queen."

I'd have supported an tag here

It says that they cut down 25 feet of hedge. This means a 25 foot long section of hedge, right? Not a 25 foot TALL hedge. That would be a really big hedge.
Also, how big is a $1.1 million house in that part of England?

Why does everyone hate the lawyer in this story? His jerk neighbors cut his shiat down! And considering that these people are willing to sell their house just to keep appealing the decision makes me think they are probably huge assholes.

Any sane person wouldn't have cut the shrubs down w/o asking first. Any halfway sane person would have apologized and made up for it afterwards.

GoodyearPimp

You can cut the branches as long as it doesn't harm the tree. If it kills the tree, you are responsible.

"Man, that hedge is HUGE!!!"

BTW, factoid.

The part in Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven that me in the night was talking about,

"If there's a bustle in your hedgerow, don't be alarmed now, its just a spring clean for the may queen."

is also the part where the satanic message is backward masked.

"Satan, my sweet Satan, the sad one, the one who makes me sad, Satan"

Yesser

So, as I understand it, instead of A) simply replacing the shrub, B) paying a surveyor to determine their boundary line and then replacing the shrub, or C) accepting the lower court's ruling and replacing the shrub, the @sshats ran up $600K+ IN LEGAL BILLS???!!!

How does one run up $600K in legal fees accidently? Honestly, after hitting $10K, they should have just replaced the f**king shrub. They deserve to sleep in a box.

If you're going to eliminate some growth on a neighbors property, be sure to do it in a way that can't be traced to you.

2004-03-30 05:21:14 PM
GoodyearPimp


Maybe someone else can back me up or else set me straight. In the US, if your neighbor's tree has branches that extend to your property, you are within your rights to cut them off at the property line. Granted, there are better solutions, but perhaps they were just tired of solictor-guy not trimming the hedges.

Ladies, the moral of the story is always keep your bush trimmed.

Vinegar Tom's right, how could the legal fees get up to over $600,000.00? I don't live in the UK, but I thought the UK's property law was the basis for our system in the US. This seems pretty cut and dry. They destroyed property that clearly wasn't theirs so they should make ammends. Did this lawyer sue them for pain and suffering? The article didn't say, but does anyone know how this figure was arrived at?

"If there's a bustle in your hedgerow, don't be alarmed now, its just a spring clean for the may queen."

Here's the text reversed:
neeuq yam eht rof naelc gnirps a tsuj sti ,won demrala eb t'nod ,woregdeh ruoy ni eltsub a s'ereht fI

Satan, my sweet Satan, the sad one, the one who makes me sad, Satan

Hmmm... I don't see how that works out.

I had this absolutley apeshiat crazy neighbor once who refused to ever mow her dang lawn.
Her backyard turned into a jungle. She had a swimming pool she just left after one season to become a green sline-filled mosquito nursery.

The front yard turned into a matted mass of weeds. I've seen vacant lots next to steel mills slathered in toxic waste in better shape. Nary a blade of real grass in sight. Even crabgrass refused to grow in it.

Yet, this crazy ol' coot would call the cops constantly when anyone else did things she didn't like. Like the time she called the cops when my dad shovelled the snow in his driveway and the snowbank spilled onto her precious weed-filled lawn.

The cops said they considered her a pest, as she called them at least 3 times a week for nothing even though they were obliged to show up; but it least kept them busy from setting up their damned speed traps!