In Caruso-Long v. Reccek, the next-door neighbors were embroiled in a bitter trespass and nuisance suit over a tree. The tree was on one neighbor’s property, but its branches and roots were growing onto the other neighbor’s property. Clearly, the only way to solve this issue was in the courts. Given the slow speed at which the tree grew, the primary issue was whether the trespass and nuisance were permanent or continuing. If the tree was a permanent nuisance, then the two-year statute of limitations had elapsed. But if it was a continuing nuisance, the suit was timely. The Superior Court ruled that the nuisance was continuing, at least partly because the tree was alive and would keep growing back, even if abated. Thus the Court remanded the case for further litigation, which again, is obviously the best way for this dispute amongst neighbors to proceed.
