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This case involved a motorcyclist colliding with
a fallen tree. The motorcyclist made a claim against the tree
owners (defendants) for damages. Judgement was awarded in favour of
the claimant.
The tree was multi-stemmed, had included bark
within its fork and also had a fungal bracket growing below it. An
experienced arboriculturist would have identified the hazardous
nature of the tree and ordered its removal. However, the inspection
regime employed by the defendants failed to identify it.
Subsequently, the case debates the necessity for tree inspections
and the levels of competency that are required.
It was judged that the
inspection regime in place was insufficient to detect structural
defects and that a different (more detailed) method of inspection
would have detected the warning signs.
This case is important as it suggests the
levels of inspection required to fulfil a tree owners duty of care.
The arboricultural experts featured in the
case were
Jeremy Barrell and
Dealga O'Callaghan who both agreed to make the following
judgement
PDF file
available through this site.
Jeremy and Dealga have also made the
following additional documents available which relate to this case.
These are available as PDF files which contain scans of the original
court case documents. The documents include two reports and two
joint statements.
Finally, the following court transcript
documents have also been made available by Jeremy and Dealga.
These are downloadable as PDF files.
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