She was gone for a few days on a work trip, the kind where you come home expecting nothing more dramatic than a full mailbox and a fridge that needs restocking. Instead, she pulled into her Bowie driveway and saw it: the yard looked wrong. Not “a branch fell” wrong. More like someone hit fast-forward on a decade of storms and saws.
By the time she realized what had happened, nine large trees that had been standing on her property were already gone. And what followed turned into a record-setting courtroom fight in Prince George’s County, detailed in the original post: a jury verdict of $933,000 against Unlimbited Tree Service for trespass and negligence.
She left town, and a note became “permission”
The timeline is the part that will make most homeowners go cold. In February 2024, the homeowner traveled to San Diego for work for a few days. While she was away, her neighbor hired Unlimbited Tree Service to do work on his property.
According to the account in court, the neighbor left a note in her mailbox saying he intended to cut the trees down. That was it. No phone call. No knocking on the door. No email. No written agreement from the property owner. She didn’t even see the note until she got back—when the trees were already cut…