A Branch Falls in Brooklyn: Who Pays if a City Tree Damages Your Property?

Karen S. woke up to a text from a neighbor: “Do you have a red Hyundai? You might want to look at it.” 

But when she walked down to the corner where she had parked, she barely recognized what she saw: a shattered windshield, dented hood, and glass sprayed across the quiet residential street in Brooklyn.

The culprit was a massive tree branch that had snapped over head and came crashing down on her car, ultimately totalling the vehicle. But what struck her most wasn’t just the damage, but the stillness. 

It hadn’t rained the night before. There had been no storm, no violent gusts of wind. It was just another night on a block where neighbors had long warned the city about dying trees that looked ready to fall.

NYC’s trees by the numbers

Most people don’t think of New York City as a tree haven. But for all the tales of a concrete jungle, there are close to a million mapped and managed trees between the five boroughs—Brooklyn alone is home to over a quarter a million of them, with plans to plant more. 

Caring for these trees is a significant challenge for the city, but on paper, New York’s tree care system looks stronger than ever. The Parks Department pruned nearly 65,000 street trees in the past fiscal year—a 19% jump from the year before—and logged more than 150,000 inspections, the highest in years, according to the Mayor’s Management Report.

It’s a dramatic rebound from the nadir of just a few years ago, when staffing shortages, contractor disputes, and looming budget cuts left thousands of service requests to pile up. As a result in 2023, inspections plunged to fewer than 29,000 and prunings to under 5,000—barely a third of the work completed the year before.

The turnaround since then is something to be celebrated, but for neighbors on Prospect Avenue, it feels like a paper victory.

On the day that Karen discovered her car, she says neighbors weren’t surprised at all.

“Oh my God, we've been waiting for something like this to happen,” she recalls them telling her. “We've been complaining to the city for a long time about all the trees in this straight shoot along Prospect Avenue, because they all look dead and like they're ready to go.”

Multiple residents had already called 311 multiple times, worried that the brittle-looking branches were an accident waiting to happen. And city records back them up. An arborist even scheduled the block for pruning as far back as November 2024. Nearly a year later, nothing had been done.

From 311 to cleanup: How long does the city really take?

By the city’s own measures, the system looks highly responsive: 96% of hazardous tree complaints are resolved within a week, and nearly all high-priority cases are addressed within 28 days, according to the Mayor's report.

But those numbers don’t capture the long wait before a tree is officially deemed “hazardous.” A wait that, for Karen, ended in a totaled car and a $500 bill she hadn’t budgeted for on the cusp of retirement.

Part of the challenge is structural: climate change is weakening trees faster than cities can keep pace. Arborists say even healthy-looking trees can be unstable, stressed by droughts, heavy rain, invasive pests, and heat—the kinds of pressures that caused a surge in tree failures across the Northeast. 

At the same time, there simply aren’t enough certified arborists to meet demand, leaving many municipalities struggling with routine inspections and pruning backlogs.

Who pays when a city tree damages your property?

Karen’s car insurance deemed the car a total loss, wrote a check, and towed it away. The payout came only after she surrendered the title, and after she ate a $500 deductible she’d gone years without ever touching.

“When a street tree falls onto a vehicle or a residence, liability ultimately depends upon whether the City had prior notice of the hazard,” explains James Roswold, an accident injury attorney, noting that the city typically doesn’t carry any responsibility if there had been no complaints or paper trail.

But Karen’s situation is different. Neighbors had filed multiple complaints, and records show the block had been scheduled for pruning nearly a year earlier. 

In such cases, Roswold says, “[If] the City failed to take action, the City may be liable under a municipal claim. The municipal claim process is a more complicated process and requires notice filings to be done in a timely manner, but past complaints would help strengthen the claim immensely.”

Even with those factors in her favor, the outcome is uncertain. Karen’s own state representative warned her the odds of recovering her deductible were about fifty-fifty.

What to do if you’re worried about a city tree encroaching on your property

City- and county-owned trees line streets across the country, and when they aren’t maintained, they can pose real risks to cars, homes, and even power lines. 

If you’re worried about a tree near your property, the most important step is to report it to your local public works or parks department and keep a record of your complaint. Whether that means filing a 311 request like in NYC, submitting an online form, or calling your municipality’s hotline, documenting your concern creates a paper trail that can make a critical difference if something goes wrong. Photographs of the tree’s condition can add further protection.

Insurance coverage is the second line of defense. Auto policies generally cover falling trees under comprehensive insurance, though deductibles apply and premiums may rise. 

Homeowners and renters insurance may cover structural damage from fallen branches or trees, but coverage limits vary, and claims can take time to resolve. As Roswold explained, liability usually hinges on whether the city or town had prior notice of the hazard and failed to act.

He emphasizes the importance of documenting complaints as soon as you notice them. “[This can] protect your rights in the event you need to go through your insurance or file a municipal claim against the City,” he says.

But Karen’s experience illustrates how even when you’ve done everything right, it can take time for the process to work itself out. She’s still working her way through the maze of receipts, complaint IDs, and phone calls to local officials in hopes of recovering the loss.