Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Florida

You would need to prove negligence on the part of the City for them to be responsible. The fact that it is now known to be rotten or that the park is overgrown in and of itself does not create negligence you still have to prove it up. The costs of proving that up may be more than the cleanup an damage. Seek some legal guidance with all the facts.

That's a good question because it involves government. In general, if the tree was on private property, say your neighbor's, and the exact same thing happened, the neighbor would be responsible. A property owner has a duty to his neighbors to remove rotten trees and the like so that those trees do not cause damage. But when you deal with government, it gets trickier. The Act of God defense is reserved for those situations in which the property owner did everything reasonable to prevent damage, but through an Act of God, damage occurred anyway. The best solution might be for you to let your homeowner insurance fix the damage and let it tackle the city. If that's not feasible, find a good lawyer in your town or county.