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In the Shade of a Tree Page 6 <br /> <br /> <br />Reprinted by permission of Bench & Bar of Minnesota, Steve Pihlaja and Lorrie Stromme, March 2002 <br />symptoms of a problem, such as the unseasonal lack of leaves, a dead limb, visible <br />decay, or a tree leaning dangerously to one side. If the potential for damage is <br />foreseeable and if the tree owner fails to take corrective action, the courts will likely hold <br />the owner legally responsible for damage caused to people or property. <br /> <br />In an unpublished opinion, the Minnesota Court of Appeals found that a landowner was <br />not liable in a personal injury case where the landowner's tree did not pose an obvious <br />danger.12 In that case, a tree trimmer was injured when a decaying branch broke. <br />Liability was not imposed, because the branch appeared to be sturdy and showed no <br />signs of decay. In another case, a landowner was found to owe no duty to protect a <br />pedestrian from a low-hanging branch that was clearly visible.13 <br /> <br />What's Entropy Got to Do With It? A Georgia case that reaches the same conclusion <br />about foreseeable d anger is worth quoting. Taking judicial notice of the Second Law of <br />Thermodynamics, the court said, <br />This law tells us that all in the universe, trees, human beings, plants, <br />animals, buildings, and all else are headed downward from complexity to <br />simplicity toward decay, deterioration, decadence, and death. Everything <br />heads towards decay; for example, a tree decaying, which is an increase <br />of entropy, or uselessness. We are specifically limiting liability to patent, <br />visible decay, and not the normal, usual, la tent, micro -nonvisible, <br />accumulative decay. In other words, there is no duty to consistently and <br />constantly check all pine trees for non-visible rot, as the manifestation of <br />decay must be visible, apparent, and patent so that one could be aware <br />that high w inds might combine with visible rot and cause damage.14 <br />Damage Done To Trees. In a leading Minnesota case on negligent damage to trees <br />arose when a church hired a road contractor to expand a parking area. The contractor <br />piled soil over the roots of a grove of oak trees, smothering the trees.15 In finding