The DU Lounge

....was on their property. Turns out, the property line ran right through the tree, and the neighbour wanted $5000 to settle. Guy was all ready to do that, but partner refused. BIG mistake. In court, the neighbour was awarded $55,000.

It turned out that an arborist (or some arborists, possibly) give an evaluation on how much it would cost to replace such a large, mature tree. It was hypothetical, because it would absolutely impossible to replace a tree of that age and size, but its growth was extrapolated from the cost of the largest tree of that type that one could find in a nursery, to however many years later the evaluation was done.

The FIL of a guy I worked with got off lucky, by comparison. He took down 5 trees that he had planted years and years ago, but were now encroaching on the house. Muni. fined him $7000 per tree. Turned out, the old adage was true. You really CAN'T fight city hall. Or at least, not often.