From January through July, nearly 200 San Franciscans sued the city over tree-related issues. These included claims for ongoing street tree care and damages caused during winter storms.
Glenda Couchman is a San Francisco-based businesswoman who nearly lost her vehicle in January due to a fallen tree at 1899 Fillmore St.
When I left Walgreens, I asked, “Where is my car?” Couchman told the story. This tree was completely engulfed by it and everyone was filming.
Couchman submitted paperwork to the city to seek compensation for damage to her car, which amounted $15,000 that was not covered by insurance. Her petition was denied, as the City Attorney’s Office said it would not accept any claims for fallen trees because these were “acts of God.”
“Are you freaking kidding me?” Couchman exclaimed. God didn’t put that tree where it is.
Couchman is convinced that poor maintenance and planting caused the damage to the tree. It’s “a no-brainer,” she says, that the city should be held responsible. Not only is she frustrated, but many others are as well. There is growing concern about the urban canopy of this city, which already has among the sparsest of all the US cities.
There is a natural tension between the desire to not remove street trees, especially given the shrinking canopy and the need to ensure that people and property are safe from dangerous trees.
Twenty-four of the 169 claims filed against the city for tree damage have been paid. Khamrie Danielsen was one of the claimants who sued San Francisco. She claimed that the workers from the city who took out a tree branch on her vehicle caused more damage than the branch itself. When she removed the branch, it did not damage the car’s trunk or back window. However, when she moved the vehicle after the tree was taken out, the rear windshield and trunk were damaged.
Danielsen, who was present at the incident that occurred on Post Street in March between Polk Street and Larkin Street, said: “I had pictures of before-and after.” The city workers showed no respect for the car at all.
Unlike Couchman, Danielsen got a settlement–$13,066–which was a few thousand dollars shy of the estimate she had received to repair her car, but she was nonetheless pleased with the outcome.
Lyft’s Obed Kusman is yet to receive the outcome of his insurance claim. Kusman, unlike Danielsen’s case, did not suffer damage to his car due to storms. Kusman picked up a customer from the Salesforce Conference in September 2022. The day was clear, with no wind or rain. Kusman, driving with his passenger, said that a tree fell out of the blue at Eighth Street and Market Streets.
Kusman admitted, “I went black for a couple of seconds.” I was in a panic. “I thought I would be dead.”
Kusman managed to get out of his vehicle, which had been totaled. Lyft paid him compensation for the damages. Kusman also wants compensation from the City, as Public Works spokeswoman Rachel Gordon promised earlier in an account about the incident. Gordon, when asked for an update on the claim of Kusman’s car, said that City Attorney’s Office is reviewing it and that this case was complex.
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