A jury has awarded $717,000 in damages to a family whose Southwest Portland home was crushed by a falling tree in 2024 after they had begged the city for two years to let them cut it down.
On Friday, jurors in a Multnomah County Circuit Courtroom delivered the verdict in the lawsuit of Joel and Sarah Bond, finding fault with the city of Portland’s Urban Forestry division for refusing the couple’s request to remove the 150-foot Douglas fir that crashed into their second story, just feet away from their 6-year-old daughter.
“I’m glad we were able to get them to face accountability, even though they never took accountability on their own,” Sarah Bond tells WW. “This whole thing has been very surreal, like we’re living in some kind of dark comedy. And this trial was kind of the same feeling.”…