Unfortunately, what's done is done. Oak trees are tough. It will survive, but it sucks losing the shade. The entire top of one of my oaks fell out during Hurricane Charley. The inside was totally black and the tree guy said it had evidently been struck by lightning at some point, making that part weak. It was the tree under which was planted my shade garden. I had to scramble to get some vulnerable plants out of the ground into pots to put under the other oak. it eventually filled out on top again, but it was always lopsided and ugly.

so sorry pinkgator. i don't think there is much you can do besides getting them to clean up the mess. good luck.

I'm sorry. Canopy roads/trees are just gorgeous. I hope it fills back out.

What a shame! Wonder if that semi-with-bulldozer damaged other trees in your neighborhood.

Hopefully, your tree will survive & be OK. I believe the rule of thumb is that plant can lose up to 1/3 of its mass & be fine.

Sadly, if your community has height allowances for trees that overhang the street, you might be @ fault. I know St. Pete's is 14', so anything below that must be trimmed up to allow for trucks & such.

This reminded me of something similar I witnessed awhile back; a big truck w/ a large fairing took out a limb from a roadside city tree that ripped a big section of the trunk out as well. The limb was lodged in the fairing & looked like it did some damage. I felt kind of bad for the driver, thinking he would surely be in trouble w/ his boss...

I cannot feel sympathetic as others have in this thread. The vehicle pictures looks only about 12' or 13' height. Anything extending out over the street must clear the street by AT LEAST 14'. And that is a minimum. You should have removed this limb (which will hang lower and lower every year due to growth and weight) long before the truck/trailer snapped it off. I think you're lucky that they are not pursuing you for any damage to their vehicle. While the low-hanging limb, in and of itself, might have been "beautiful" to anyone who appreciates limbs, the effect it has on a corridor of automotive circulation -- which includes commercial vehicles -- cannot be considered beautiful.

Yardvaark I understand your point, but it is incorrect. As a driver I can say with certainty it is always the drivers responsibility to make sure they have clearance regardless of what governmental regulations are in place. They differ from location to location. Common sense dictates that a commercial driver in a heavily treed residential area with low volume of traffic should check the route prior to proceeding. This is even more true with a flat bed hauling a piece of equipment with a moveable arm such as this back hoe. Because the arm could be extending higher then normal due to loading error by the operator.

Generally the standardized height for a heavy truck class A or B would be 13'6" any thing over that would require a special permit and pre planned trip routing. Even telephone poles sag and bend causing the wires to droop lower then what they were set at when installed.

The equipment owner could pursue a case against the homeowner if they were damaged because of a low hanging utility line or vegetation over a public street. They may or may not win. However if that was my driver and damaged the load because of his negligence of failing to scout the route in advance and was moving at a speed that pulled such a large branch down without slowly going under to see if they had clearance I would have to discipline that driver

By your logic if my driver hit someone on a bike who wasn't obeying the law because they were riding the bike facing the wrong direction on that residential street it would be the fault of the bike rider for breaking the law instead of the driver being at fault. That could go either direction in court too.

Those look like Live oaks. Great trees the thing about them is there branches are low on the trunk and spread back towards the earth. Thats how they evolved. Handles wind a lot better then a tree that grows up taller with narrower arching branches. The live oak has spreading wide canopy and can be difficult with clearance as they get older. Given a huge space the branches will touch the earth. Southport North Carolina

http://www.sciway.net/sc-photos/beaufort-county/live-oak.html

sousd24

That spreading growth of the live oak is not it's natural growth pattern. In the wild they grow in the forest (think crowded) not in a opened field or a homeowners landscape. I have my live oaks pruned up more like their natural growth would be. Now I will be the first to admit that the spreading growth is quite beautiful. Anyway all I have written is just an aside to the whole who's at fault issue.

Hi Laura, the natural growth patter of the live oak is low sprawling limbs that swing back towards the ground. The link I added in my post above explains this in coastal South Carolina. Live oaks are designed this way (low and wide) because of their range from extreme southeastern coastal VA, south along the coast into Texas. They have evolved this form of growth for 2 main reasons. 1) After rapid growth they slow down and with time get very (core trunk) large. The canopy spreading out low to the ground helps support the weight where as if if had more typical oak branches the weight would cause the tree to come down easier. 2) This is because the range is in hurricane alley and the trees have evolved to this climate. The live oak is Quercus virginiana and some times confused with the Quercus geminata which is commonly called the sand or scrub live oak. The sand live oak is a smaller tree and it does grow in thickets or forest, as the name suggest its scrubby . In Florida you have both pretty common and they can hybridize which allows them to grow further inland in other southeastern states.

Pruning a large live oak like a lollipop is a bad mistake, winds will come. The branches left and new growth will continue to arch back out horizontally compared to a more vertical growth. Lots of people associate these trees with how other oaks grow. They are not. A great tree if you have a big enough space.

Natural growing live oak in a local nature preserve. I'm from LA, and I can swear to the fact that this is how they grow. You may be mistaking a Laurel Oak for a Live Oak also. They grow more upright. If your tree is dropping a lot of twigs, it's a Laurel Oak.

Nobody has mentioned the aspect from business law. You own everything that is within your property line above and below. You do not own anything past your property line when if it is connected to your property. So any tree material hanging over the right of way is not yours and if it was damaged in the ROW, you have no recourse. Same things goes for trees over neighbors' properties.

^^^ I thought this was the case as well. The city has always trimmed the trees over the streets I have lived on. They did this just recently in our neighborhood.

Wouldn't city ordinances would be a determining factor in any legal dispute over 'rights' or damage?