Tennessee Court Rules City Not Liable for Fallen Tree Death

The Tennessee Court of Appeals has ruled that Knoxville isn’t liable for a tree that fell on and killed a woman driving on a city street.

Judge Thomas R. Frierson wrote for the court that even if the city knew the tree, located on private property, was diseased or damaged, it owed no duty of care to motorists to remove it.

The family of 30-year-old Tiffany Raley sued the city after her death in December 2011 when the tree crashed onto her car as she went to pick up her son from school.

The Knoxville News Sentinel reported that Frierson concluded the city had no ownership of the tree and had no obligation to remove it because it was on private property.