Verdicts and Settlements

NUISANCE- Obstruction of view, Spite fence

SETTLEMENT RESULT: An agreement was reached in which Defendants agreed to remove two pear trees and a large Redwood tree on their property at their own expense. The agreement also established "view corridors," provisions for view restoration and maintenance, provisions for future tree and vegetation work, and a good neighbor clause.

CASE: Lawwill v. McIntire, No. CV 075441

SETTLEMENT DATE: December 11, 2008

ATTORNEYS:: Plaintiff- Barri Kaplan Bonapart (Bonapart & Associates, Sausalito)
Defendant- Ronald Ruma (Duane Morris, LLP, San Francisco)

EXPERTS: Plaintiff: James MacNair, arborist, MacNair & Associates, Glen Ellen
Curtis Thor, Jr., North Bay Real Estate Appraisals, Novato
Linda Carruthers, survey expert, Linda Carruthers & Associates, Sausalito
>Defendant: Walter Ricci, Certified General Appraiser, Hamilton, Ricci & Associates, Inc., San Francisco
James R. Clark, arborist, HortScience, Inc., Pleasanton
Stephen M. Angelo, architect, AIA, Livermore
Gregg Stutchman, Stutchman Forensic Laboratory, Napa
Stanley Gray, professional land surveyor, Meridian Surveying Engineering, Inc., San Francisco

FACTS & CONTENTIONS: : Plaintiffs and Defendants are next door neighbors in Tiburon, CA. Defendants engaged in a variety of distasteful and provoking activities, including cutting down trees that Plaintiffs had specifically requested to stay intact for privacy and screening, refusing to cut other trees, and planting additional trees that grew to obstruct the Lawwills’ view corridor in violation of Tiburon Municipal Code.

After many fruitless attempts at resolving the issue through mutual cooperation, Plaintiffs filed for declaratory and injunctive relief from the nuisance and view obstruction caused by the Defendants’ trees and vegetation..

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