Who is responsible for the power outage damage?

[SlugSlinger]

Gosh this thread.

We had a derecho with 100mph+ winds, hundreds of trees down all over infrastructure, and this guy wants to sue his neighbor.

Maybe go out and help someone instead of sitting on your porch with the homebrew wondering how to make their lives more miserable.

Wow lots of ASSuming on here. I rounded the neighborhood and by 9:00 am Sunday morning I had cut and collected some trees and branches. I drug them home and started making piles to burn.

And yesterday on my lunch break from my day job, I cut down a 30” diameter tree at my neighbors.

 

[tynyphil]

What is reasonable maintenance for a home owner? If your tree fell on your neighbor’s house who would be responsible? Nature?

This act of nature language is related to insurance policies. Not liability due to the lack of maintenance.

When I built my house nearly 40 years ago being young and stupid I planted 3 ‘switches’ of sycamore and sweet gum trees within 10yds of the house to provide shade. In about 35 years they became 60’ trees towering over the house. I “puckered” every time the wind got up. Got brave and took them down luckily not ontop of the house. Made a picnic table out of one of them.

 

[ssgrock3]

If that tree fell on a car and killed someone, there is no liability? That tree should have been maintained and as can be seen, it has not.

I had a tree about that size next to the road and I cut it down because I didn't want it falling on the power lines or a passing vehicle. Since it was on a right of way, I called the county and they wouldn't return my calls. I took some responsibility and dealt with it. People just don't give a xxxx.

That tree above is on the guys property and probably not on a ROW.

In that scenario, the tree owners insurance would pay I would imagine. The utility company I suppose could try and charge the owner, but like when they cut our trees when it got into the line, they don’t ask, they just hack them to pieces. So I am going back on myself a little. Acts of nature with municipal utilities is typically a no fault and they just fix and move on. I man my experiance.

 

[tynyphil]

I get the frustration that’s being expressed in this thread, but trying to assign blame and liability to your neighbors is a big part of what’s wrong with this country.
Yes, someone could start a tar and feather campaign on social media, but that would be a chickensh*t thing to do.
Here in east TX, a neighbor or passerby would’ve already cut the tree off the line, but evidently, y’all don’t do that sort of thing up there.

Yep I think it’s the difference between common sense country folk and city slickers. Our 1/2 mile gravel road for 13, 5-acre homesites is private and we must maintain it ourselves. All seem to chip in not only with $$ but labor and equipment when needed. It’s better than any gumbit maintained road in Ok county. You have me confused tho. You seem to be from E Texas but all the time in the Enid area as well. Not that it matters.

 

[SlugSlinger]

Yep I think it’s the difference between common sense country folk and city slickers. Our 1/2 mile gravel road for 13, 5-acre homesites is private and we must maintain it ourselves. All seem to chip in not only with $$ but labor and equipment when needed. It’s better than any gumbit maintained road in Ok county. You have me confused tho. You seem to be from E Texas but all the time in the Enid area as well. Not that it matters.

That sounds like my kind of community. I actually like the work.

 

[retrieverman]

Liability for something I have no control over is one of my greatest concerns. I posted a couple years ago about some kids trespassing and riding 4 wheelers on my place up there. The first time they ignored a two “keep out/no trespassing“ signs and left the gate open, so I put a lock on it. The second time they bypassed my lock and chain but attempted to close the gate hoping I wouldn’t notice, so that told me they knew they were doing something wrong. I finally had to chain it so that they’re going to need bolt cutters to get in.
To be honest, I wouldn’t really care about them riding around when it’s not hunting season, but I don’t trust people not to do stupid sh*t and then try to blame someone else for their dumbassery.

 

[retrieverman]

Yep I think it’s the difference between common sense country folk and city slickers. Our 1/2 mile gravel road for 13, 5-acre homesites is private and we must maintain it ourselves. All seem to chip in not only with $$ but labor and equipment when needed. It’s better than any gumbit maintained road in Ok county. You have me confused tho. You seem to be from E Texas but all the time in the Enid area as well. Not that it matters.

Yes sir, I live in east TX but own a house and land north of Salt Plains lake.

 

[bushmaster06]

Maybe power company should bury their lines?

The power company is responsible for maintaining their ROW, right? Expecting the tree owner to have determined that the tree was decaying enough that it could fall on a power line if a 100 mph wind from X direction occurred, seems like a bit of a stretch. I'll bet the power company likes the idea though.

OG&E seems to not give a damn about maintaining their rights of way. Our co-op on the other hand almost never has a service outage that isn't due to planned maintenance or someone doing something stupid like driving a car into a pole.

 

[Perplexed]

And yesterday on my lunch break from my day job, I cut down a 30” diameter tree at my neighbors.

What make/model of chainsaw did you use for this, and what was the bar length?

 

[tynyphil]

Yes sir, I live in east TX but own a house and land north of Salt Plains lake.

I lived in Enid a couple of years also did some consulting work in Alva. Loved that area and the people. I many times would fish at the dam of Salt Plains on my way back home from consulting. Caught a monster ( to me) Saugeye there below the dam one time.