Legal Question in Criminal Law in Ohio

Ohio Arboriculture Law

A neighbor has been pruning my trees without my permission. I live in an Ohio township and have trees growing along my property line. When a development was built next to me in 2001 I put up a privacy fence along part of the property line. Between my property and the neighbors' is about 30' of ''buffer'' property belonging to the homeowner's association. Some of my branches have grown over the fence and extended over the buffer, not over the neighbor's yard. The neighbor has cut the branches that are not over his yard and deposited them onto my property. He has also cut a considerable amount of branches over my peoperty. To do this he had to come around my fence and trespass without our permission. Ohio law covers this and providess both criminal and civil remedies. I brought this to the township Trustees attention and was told my resolution ''isn't encouraging'', that this may only be a civil matter. That seems contrary to Ohio criminal law. My question is can he prune my trees when they do not grow over his land (901.51 ORC).? How do I address his trespassing to prune my trees? What are my legal rights and how can I best proceed in handling this situation? Thank you.


Asked on 3/03/08, 5:50 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Richard Cline Office of the Ohio Public Defender

Re: Ohio Arboriculture Law

The first and most obvious solution is to talk with your neighbor, point out the buffer zone, and ask him to please stop trimming your trees. My guess is that you have either already tried that or are convinced that will not work.

You can ask the Sheriff to file criminal tresspass charges, but the Sheriff may decide that the matter is not important enough to warrant assigning a Deputy to it. If that occurs, your only remedy may be small claims court.

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Answered on 3/03/08, 10:22 am


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