ULSTER, N.Y. (WRGB) \u2014 For years, Danielle and Walter Conklin say they worried a dead tree across the road from their home on a neighbor\u2019s property would eventually come crashing down.<\/p>\n
They say they warned their neighbor about it countless times, but nothing was done.<\/p>\n
On March 12, they say their worst fear became reality.<\/p>\n
The massive tree fell on to their home, narrowly missing family members inside. Within seconds, the house they called home for nearly 25 years was destroyed.<\/p>\n
Now, six months after the March 12 incident, Danielle and Walter Conklin, their two children, and four pets are still living in a hotel, facing tens of thousands of dollars in expenses and an uncertain path toward rebuilding the home.<\/p>\n
Family Says They Were Minutes From Being Crushed<\/p>\n
For Danielle and Walter, their waterfront home overlooking the Rondout Creek was an idyllic place for them to raise their family and grow old.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was our home and we paid it off,\u201d said Walter, adding that they paid off their mortgage in 2018.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s where they called home for the last 25 years. But today, the home sits in shambles\u2013a large blue tarp covering most of the house.<\/p>\n
Around 9:30 pm the night of March 12th, the family said they were downstairs watching television.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then it went black in the house and then an extremely loud explosion happened,\u201d Danielle Conklin said. \u201cWe didn\u2019t know what had happened until we heard my daughter screaming.\u201d<\/p>\n
They said they normally would have been upstairs around that time. They soon learned the dead tree from across the street fell onto their home, crashing right into their bedrooms.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf it would have been five minutes more, the three out of the four of us would [gone upstairs and] have been dead,\u201d the family said.<\/p>\n
Neighbor Warned To Take Tree Down <\/p>\n
The Conklin’s say the tree had been dead for years, with no leaves and visible signs of decay.<\/p>\n
The tree sat across the street, up a hill on their neighbor property.<\/p>\n
They say they repeatedly raised concerns with the property owner, Jonathan \u201cJay\u201d Morrow and even offered to help get the tree removed, but nothing was ever done.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve told the landowner about the tree. It\u2019s been dead for at least five years,\u201d Walter Conklin said. \u201cWe looked at it, we talked about it, and he said he\u2019ll take care of it, he\u2019ll take care of it, and nothing ever happened.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to the Conklin\u2019s, Morrow lives in New York City and uses the property across the street as a weekend home. The sprawling 63-acre property is worth nearly $2 million.<\/p>\n
CBS6 reached out to the property owner, Jonathan Morrow, for his response but did not hear back.<\/p>\n
The family also says it contacted Ulster County, Central Hudson and tree companies in search of another solution. They said they were ultimately told they could not simply remove a tree located on someone else\u2019s private property.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not for lack of trying,\u201d the family said. \u201cI\u2019ve tried everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
An engineer who later inspected the Conklin\u2019s home concluded the damage and resulting structural instability were so severe that repairing the existing structure was not considered feasible or cost-effective, particularly given the need to comply with current building codes.<\/p>\n
The report recommended full removal and reconstruction of the home.<\/p>\n
$44,000 in Hotel Costs<\/p>\n
Six months after the tree fell, the family remains in two hotel rooms.<\/p>\n
The Conklin’s estimate they have spent about $44,000 on hotel accommodations. They say a public adjuster estimated rebuilding the house alone would cost well over $500,000.<\/p>\n
There is another complication: The Conklin’s did not have homeowners insurance when the tree fell.<\/p>\n
The family says financial strain led them to allow the coverage to lapse. They acknowledge insurance would have provided another avenue for seeking coverage for their losses, but say it does not change their contention that the property owner had been warned about the tree.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt still doesn\u2019t take away from the fact that we had warned them for an extended period of time,\u201d Danielle Conklin said.<\/p>\n
What Happens When a Neighbor\u2019s Tree Destroys Your Home?<\/p>\n
CBS6 asked attorney Greg Rinckey, who is not involved in the Conklin’s case, to explain generally how situations involving trees and neighboring properties can be handled under New York law.<\/p>\n
Rinckey said the circumstances surrounding the tree can be important.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the tree\u2019s not dead and there\u2019s a storm, there\u2019s what we call an act of God, and then your neighbor is not liable,\u201d Rinckey said.<\/p>\n
Rinckey said the situation can be different when a tree is dead or dangerous and the property owner had been put on notice about its condition.<\/p>\n
Based on the circumstances described to him in the Conklins\u2019 case, Rinckey said he believed there was an argument for negligence. Any determination of liability, however, would ultimately depend on the evidence and legal proceedings.<\/p>\n
Without homeowners insurance of their own, Rinckey said recovering losses could require pursuing the other property owner through the legal system.<\/p>\n
The Conklins have filed a lawsuit, but Rinckey said litigation can be lengthy.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom the time you file a suit, if it\u2019s actually going to go to litigation and go to trial, it could be years,\u201d Rinckey said.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, the Conklins\u2019 hotel costs continue to grow, their belongings remain scattered around the property and the home where they spent nearly 25 years building a life sits damaged and empty.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just want my house back,\u201d Danielle Conklin said. \u201cThat\u2019s it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rinckey said homeowners concerned about a potentially dangerous tree on a neighboring property should not rely solely on verbal conversations.<\/p>\n
He recommends taking photographs, notifying the property owner of the concern in writing and saving emails, letters and other correspondence that could establish when the owner was put on notice.<\/p>\n
Homeowners can also contact their municipality about the concern and preserve records of those exchanges.<\/p>\n
That documentation could become important if the tree eventually falls and there is a dispute over whether the property owner knew \u2014 or reasonably should have known \u2014 that the tree posed a danger.<\/p>\n
Rinckey also stressed the importance of maintaining homeowners insurance, which can provide a more immediate avenue for addressing losses even when responsibility for the damage remains disputed.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s a tough situation, and a lot of times you’re not made 100-percent,\u201d said Rinckey.<\/p>\n
But for the Conklins, insurance wouldn\u2019t have stopped the tree from falling. They are sharing their story as a warning to other homeowners to take potential hazards on neighboring properties seriously.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sharing our story because we warned about that tree. We were told it would be taken care of, and we trusted their word because we believed we were dealing with neighbors who cared. Now we\u2019re the ones who lost our home, our security and the life we worked so hard for. I don\u2019t want another family to find out the hard way what can happen when serious concerns are ignored,\u201d said Danielle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ULSTER, N.Y. (WRGB) \u2014 For years, Danielle and Walter Conklin say they worried a dead tree across the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":365405,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":["post-365404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-staten-island","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-staten-island","tag-staten-island-headlines","tag-staten-island-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365404","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=365404"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365404\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/365405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=365404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=365404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=365404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}