$10,000,000.00 Settlement in Tree Branch Case
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A 31-year-old man and his wife obtained a $10,000,000.00 settlement for injuries sustained when a large tree branch, which hung over a street, broke off and landed on the man's car. The trunk of the tree was located on private property.
The victim suffered a broken neck at the C5 level which rendered him a quadriplegic.
These injuries were similar to that sustained by Christopher Reeves, the actor who played Superman and who was injured from falling off of a horse. Christopher Reeves later died from complications arising from his injuries.
A C5 quadriplegic is paralyzed from the neck down.
The bills incurred by the injured 31-year-old man and his family included past medical bills of approximately $1,500,000.00 and loss of future wages with a present value of approximately $1,200,000.00.
The experts lined up by the injured man's lawyers included four nationally renowned professors of arboriculture (tree experts), an expert on arborist equipment, and a local practicing arborist.
The defendant had claimed that the tree branch fell as a result of an "act of God." The injured man's attorneys had meteorologists lined up as witnesses on that issue.
Although $10,000,000.00 is a staggering sum of money, the losses to this unfortunate victim are huge. He will be virtually unable to move his body for the rest of his life. Further, he and his family will sustain huge medical bills in the future. He was a senior in college and worked fulltime to help support his family at the time of the incident.
The defendants, whose identities are confidential, included a governmental entity responsible for providing safe streets within its jurisdiction.
This North Carolina case is an example of how landowners can be liable for dead or damaged trees which could cause injury to others.