Settlement of $300,000 in Vermont timber trespass case

Location: Caledonia County, Vermont

Result: Settled after suit for $300,000

Attorney: Israel F. Piedra, Esq., of Welts, White & Fontaine, PC

Case Summary

A logger clear cut approximately 10 acres of land on our client’s homestead in Caledonia County. The land was undeveloped but not intended for logging. Rather, our client valued it for its rural nature and scenic beauty.

Approximately two thousand trees were cut. Our firm hired a licensed Vermont forester to conduct a “stump cruise” and inventory the number and sizes of the cut trees. The Vermont timber trespass law, 13 V.S.A. § 3606, allows plaintiffs to “elect to rely on the values established under section 3602” of the statutory chapter. Section 3602 is the so-called “forfeiture table” which delineates dollar amounts for stumps based on their diameters. Our expert forester calculated that, according to the forfeiture table, the trees cut on our client’s property had a value of over $300,000.

Thankfully, the logger had liability insurance. However, the insurance company refused to pay, claiming that it was just following orders from another individual who had claimed that the land was his. Therefore, our firm filed a lawsuit seeking damages in Caledonia County Superior Court. We argued that (a) the logger was, in effect, strictly liable to our client for trespass, see Wolcott v. Behrend, 147 Vt. 453, 457 (1986); and (b) even if another individual was partially responsible, the logger was still jointly and severally liable (i.e., on the hook for the full amount of damages) under Vermont law. See Levine v. Wyeth, 183 Vt. 76, 101-02 (2006).

After approximately one year of litigation, the logger’s insurance company finally relented and paid a settlement of $300,000 for its actions. This was an excellent result considering the potential legal and insurance challenges implicated by the case.