Well, that’s just awful, again, Kevin. I can’t imagine how livid you must be. Seems like every year you have some kind of not so small catastrophe.
Yes, from what I understand, roundup can take a few days before you know the final damage, so hope it’s not as bad as when you had the 2-4D damage.
Just so careless of some folks. I wonder if it came from the boss’ (mayor) field again. Hope you get it all sorted out.
On a similar note, last year (April) while we were out of town, we had a tree blow down on our property down near the old house. It took out our phone line, so they came out and fixed that, and cut up the tree that did the damage. But, they also sprayed the ground under the power lines for some reason, guess they wanted a clear path for equipment to drive thru if necessary next time.
We had just planted our first 15 fruit trees on the back side of our property that week. They are prob a couple hundred yards from where they sprayed. But, thankfully there wasn’t any damage to our new trees. But, if it had been windy that day, who knows. So, we dodged a bullet that day. You’d think being out here in the middle of nowhere that you wouldn’t have to worry about stuff like that, but there you are. Now that we have almost 30 fruit trees, and multiple berry plants I worry about something like spray damage.
Kevin, Is this guy still the mayor in your town? If not, have a lawyer rip his head off and s**t down his throat. If he is, tell the whole city and have your lawyer repeat the first suggestion. Get punitive damages too! The only way he will respect you is to hurt him…bad($$$)! Take his mayor job too.
Just not right!
Better advice is to be civil. Always remember the old saying that you can catch more flies with sugar rather than with vinegar. Appeal to his self-respect.
I doubt if a judge is going to go along with punitive damages in a small court case as this. That is based on what my lawyer has told me. Punitive damages are for personal injury (and other intentional, insidious acts) involving gross negligence. Just try to assess the dollar amount of damages to the fruit trees and the cost to replace reasonably. Let the lawyer take care of it and keep your angry out of it as much as possible.
As a proud member of the billing coalition I would definitely recommend you see a lawyer. But, and it is a big but, figure out what the actual damages are before you see a lawyer. The last thing you want to do is get involved in some litigation that costs you twice the value of the trees. I have seems some incredibly silly legal disputes rack up massive legal bills. I am just happy that I am not a litigator.
My son is a prosecutor and I’m fascinated listening to his court stories. From what I gather, step one is to gather copious irrefutable evidence. Dates and names all documented, expert testimony that this damage affecting this many trees is indeed caused by … and replacement costs total… INCLUDING labor.
It sounds like trouble, but Kevin, how else can you prevent this from happening again?
When I heard the machinery running near my orchard last weekend I ran down on the atv. I snapped pics of my trees as they looked at the time, then took pics of the spray rig across the road. I have no idea if that would result in a “slam dunk case” or not, but figured some level of photographic evidence sure couldn’t hurt.
Kevin,
I’ll say it again and do what you want but my advice look for justice and not revenge. Fight when you need to but not unless you’ve got no other choice. Revenge leads to more revenge.
I reread your 1.0 post about the sticky details of the situation. Perhaps for starters you can invite him and his wife over (or other witness) and show them the damage and have a man-to-man talk about this and other damage. Then ask what steps will he take to solve the problem and assure it doesn’t happen again. Explain the $$ loss it has caused and ask what he can do about that.
Hoping for a good outcome.
It’s monetary damages that matter to the law. If he’d wiped out your field of sweetcorn or pumpkins for market, there would be no question that he owed compensation for that loss.
Please let me suggest an alternate route that is free and fast and may get some action. Most states have laws regarding record keeping for farm use chemicals. I assume your state does. If it does try the following:
Locate the phone number for the Department of Agriculture pesticide division for your state. Call them and explain your problem. Ask if your state requires record keeping for farm use chemicals. Get the name of the person who oversees record keeping or licensing for your county. Call them and explain the damage done to your orchard and ask them to please review what was sprayed adjacent to your orchard and when. Follow up with your pictures of the damage to the inspector. See if you can get them to come by and see for themselves. Also, it would not hurt to call your local county extension agent and see if they would visit and examine the damage to your orchard.
The pesticide division in my state keeps a sharp eye on farm use chemicals and yours may too. It’s very intimidating when the pesticide inspector shows up to examine your records even if they are complete and you always follow label directions. In my state, unsafe use of farm chemicals normally result in license forfeiture and or fines. I believe there is a federal record keeping requirement for any restricted use chemical. Paraquat (Gramoxone) is restricted use and often used to burn down weeds in field crops. It probably has a federal record keeping requirement.
Oh brother. This is horrible. I agree with the others; unless he feels your pain he will continue to be numb! Your trees are toast and they are new! The good news is that you just went through the legal process with this guy, so your records are fresh and barely a year old. Take tons of pictures of the trees and soil too. The leaves on the ground are so sad. And yes, your health is a concern. Do not let your dog run through your orchard.
I mean going to court or to the Ag Department isn’t a trivial choice, but since this happened before I’m assuming you already spoke to him about the issue and the damages you’ve suffered and gotten rebuffed. That you take another step and invoke outside authority shouldn’t be a suprise to him, but it’s also potentially necessary now that this has happened twice.
