Source: https://caselaw.findlaw.com/ca-court-of-appeal/1846370.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-25 22:53:38+00:00

Document:
Steven A. BOOSKA et al., Plaintiffs and Appellants, v. Ramanbhai B. PATEL et al., Defendants and Respondents.
Steven A. Booska,Law Offices of Steven A. Booska and Linda Burrell, San Francisco, for plaintiffs and appellants. Law Offices of Melvin D. Honowitz, Honowitz & Shaw, Melvin D. Honowitz and Eric C. Shaw, San Francisco, for defendants and respondents.
Steven A. Booska and his wife, Gloria Booska (hereafter Booska), appeal from a summary judgment entered against them in their action against their neighbors, Ramanbhai B. and Savitriben R. Patel, and the Patels' employees (hereafter Patel). We find that there are triable issues of material fact and reverse.
Booska's complaint, filed August 29, 1991, alleges the following facts. Booska owns property adjacent to Patel's property. On Booska's land is a 30 to 40–year–old Monterey pine tree, which was a part of the landscaping of the yard. The roots of the tree extended into Patel's yard. On May 11, 1991, Patel hired a contractor to excavate along the length of his yard and sever the roots of the tree down to a level of approximately three feet. According to the complaint, Patel's actions were negligently performed, with the result that the tree became unsafe, a nuisance, unable to support life, and was removed at Booska's expense. The complaint alleged causes of action for negligence, destruction of timber and nuisance.
On February 24, 1993, Patel moved for summary judgment, arguing that he had an “absolute right” to sever the roots on his property without regard to any injuries inflicted on Booska's land. The undisputed facts are that the tree grew solely on Booska's property and that the roots spread into Patel's yard and were severed by Patel. Also undisputed was that Booska subsequently had the tree removed.
Patel submitted a portion from the deposition transcript of Booska's expert, Robert Scudder, in which the expert stated that there was some cracking in Patel's walkway where it went across the tree roots, but that there were other landscape options which would avoid severing the roots. Booska submitted the declaration of Scudder, stating that the minimal damage done by the roots to Patel's property could have been avoided by appropriate pruning. Scudder also stated that Patel's action compromised the safety of the tree so as to require its removal. These latter facts regarding the existence and extent of any damage caused by the roots, the necessity for the tree's removal, and the nature of Patel's conduct remain disputed.
A hearing was held on Patel's motion on March 24, 1993. The court stated that the case of Bonde v. Bishop (1952) 112 Cal.App.2d 1, 245 P.2d 617, provided for an absolute right to sever any roots that enter an adjoining landowner's property, and granted the motion. The court's order granting summary judgment cited Bonde and stated that Patel had demonstrated there was no triable issue of fact as to the affirmative defense of this “privilege.” The court further held that landowners acting solely on their own property were absolutely privileged to sever roots of a neighbor's tree. Booska filed a timely notice of appeal.
The question, as framed by the pleadings and declarations, is the single legal issue of whether an adjoining landowner may sever roots from a neighbor's tree that have encroached on his property even if the action is done negligently or maliciously and even if no damage was caused by the tree.
On appeal, Booska concedes the principle that an adjoining landowner may cut tree limbs or roots on his property. He argues, however, that this right is limited by principles of reasonableness. Patel argues that California law has long recognized the right of a landowner to remove encroaching roots and branches from his property and that this right is absolute.
In its discussion of California law regarding encroaching trees, the court stated that an adjoining landowner may remove limbs or roots that extend onto his property. In discussing whether a plaintiff could maintain an action in court to restrain encroachment, the court stated: “While it is the absolute right of a landowner to remove those portions of trees which encroach on his land whether they cause damage or not, it is rather anomalous that to obtain court help in the matter he must first prove that the encroachment constitutes a nuisance.” (Bonde v. Bishop, supra, 112 Cal.App.2d at p. 6, 245 P.2d 617.) The court noted that, although not clear, it appeared that a landowner, who wished to act “in what is probably a more orderly manner” by applying to a court for an injunction to restrain the encroachment, had to prove the tree was a nuisance. From this comment, Patel constructs an absolute right to do whatever he likes on his property, without regard to its impact on his neighbors. This is not the law.
Prosser and Keeton, discussing the rights and duties of a landowner, note: “He has a privilege to make use of the land for his own benefit, and according to his own desires, which is an integral part of our whole system of private property; but it has been said many times that this privilege is qualified by a due regard for the interests of others who may be affected by it. The possessor's right is therefore bounded by principles of reasonableness, so as to cause no unreasonable risks of harm to others in the vicinity.” (Prosser & Keeton, The Law of Torts (5th ed. 1984) § 57, p. 386.) Similarly, in Corpus Juris Secundum, it is noted: “Each owner of adjoining land may trim on his own side trees and plants standing on the boundary line, provided he does so without unreasonable injury to the interest of his neighbor․ However, the rule is qualified by the right of an abutting owner to use his realty in a reasonable way.” (2 C.J.S., Adjoining Landowners, § 56, p. 54.) 4 “ ‘It bears repetition that the basic policy of this state ․ is that everyone is responsible for any injury caused to another by his want of ordinary care or skill in the management of his property․ The proper test to be applied to the liability of the possessor of land ․ is whether in the management of his property he has acted as a reasonable [person] in view of the probability of injury to others․' [Citation.]” (Sprecher v. Adamson Companies (1981) 30 Cal.3d 358, 371, 178 Cal.Rptr. 783, 636 P.2d 1121.) Thus, whatever rights Patel has in the management of his own land, those rights are tempered by his duty to act reasonably.
Nuisance law supports this principle. Thus, “[a]nything which is ․ an obstruction to the free use of property ․ is a nuisance.” (§ 3479.) Remedies for a private nuisance are a civil action or abatement. (§ 3501.) “A person injured by a private nuisance may abate it by removing, or, if necessary, destroying the thing which constitutes the nuisance, without committing a breach of the peace, or doing unnecessary injury.” (§ 3502, emphasis added.) Witkin notes: “A private nuisance may be abated by the party injured at his own risk; or he may bring a civil action for an injunction or damages or both.” (11 Witkin, Summary of Cal. Law (9th ed. 1990) Equity, § 140, pp. 822–823, emphasis added [original emphasis omitted].) Patel ignores the emphasized portions of the above statements, maintaining that Booska was the one who used his property unreasonably. Regardless of the truth of that statement, no evidence on that issue was presented in support of the instant summary judgment. Patel has presented no authority for his claim to an absolute right to cause harm to his neighbor. We find a passage from the court's opinion in Bonde v. Bishop, supra, 112 Cal.App.2d 1, 245 P.2d 617, to be applicable here: “Apparently this is one of those rows between neighbors in which the defendants are standing on what they erroneously believe to be their strict legal rights to the exclusion of any consideration of the fair, decent, neighborly and legal thing to do.” (Id., at p. 4, 245 P.2d 617.) It seems, in the instant case, that neither party has considered what would be the neighborly thing to do to resolve this problem. While we express no opinion on the appropriate outcome of this case, we find that there are disputed factual issues to be resolved.
The summary judgment is reversed and the matter remanded for further proceedings in accordance with the views expressed herein. Costs to appellants.
1. Unless otherwise indicated, all statutory references are to the Civil Code.
3. We note that the issue of whether Patel suffered any actual damage from the roots is a disputed factual matter.
STRANKMAN, P.J., and NEWSOM, J., concur.

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