Last week, the family of 4-year-old Ronan Kerr, who was killed by a falling eucalyptus branch in June, filed suit against the city of San Diego – but not just for compensation.
The lawsuit also names two city tree service contractors – Atlas Environmental Services and West Coast Arborists – which it accuses of failing to properly maintain eucalyptus trees across the city that show obvious signs of decay.
Before the lawsuit was filed, I was already looking into the apparent instability of eucalyptuses across the city. This led to a conversation with San Diego’s city forester on Oct. 29, who harped on the importance of proper tree maintenance. The city has since declined to comment on the lawsuit directly…