The article does say that the pole was askew and a nearby tree had grown to the point where access was easier.

I happen to be a customer of Florida Power and Light, (FPL) and as a property manager, I have had some experience with their tree trimming crews.

Unless the growth in question interferes with the line – not the pole, the actual power lines – FPL won’t touch the vine or the tree. If and when they do trim a tree, they will only trim the side facing the power lines.

The reason? Liability issues and lawsuits. FPL nor their contractors do not want people at risk from falls or a slip of the chainsaw than they have to be. Property owners have sued FPL in the past for cutting trees away from the lines, and then “rounding” or balancing the shape of the tree saying that FPL had no legal right to trim the tree. FPL now just trims the part that hangs over the line’s right of way.

The last time I called FPL about a tree in a line, they sent a guy out to look at it. He said “yep…. there is a tree in the line…… we’ll get back to you.”

The next person was an arborist, who determined that the tree was alive, and could be pruned. (This was to comply with a county ordinance.) Next to appear was a tree trimming crew supervisor. He determined that his crew could not get a cherry picker truck close enough to the tree. (This despite the fact that the previous month, a power outage had necessitated an FPL cherry picker truck to get to the same area. Same trucks… different results.)

The supervisor recommends that FPL move some of the lines that are in the way of the cherry picker getting to the tree.

FPL comes out and moved the line but now the lines go through the palm fronds of the tree.

A few days later, the fronds catch fire. The local Fire Department comes out and says “we’ll contact FPL about the situation.”

FPL sends a NEW guy out who says “yep….. there is a line running through the tree. We’ll get back to you.”

I ask him what was happening with the other work order for the tree trimming, and he said that by the Fire Department calling the request in, they closed the books on the first one as it was superseded by the FD request.

Next to come out is the arborist, who says that there is no say way to trim the tree because the lines are too close to the upper ball of the tree and if you trim the fronds all the way back, it will kill the tree. He tells FPL they have move the lines.

FPL comes back and moves the lines back to their original position.

The tree contractor comes back and decides that they can’t get in there with a standard truck, so they will need a smaller cherry picker.

Two months later, the tree is trimmed – on one side only.

Total time? About 10 months.

After this, the arborist returns to inspect the tree and he says the tree was pruned improperly.

Ain’t life grand?

All@Every power pole that I have ever seen is devoid of steps until well above the reach of a normal person. Without a ladder, special equipment, or very long arms and great strength, there is no way to climb such a pole. This practice in-and-of-itself constitutes an anti-climbing measure.

I think we are using different definitions of “viable claim.”

As for my condemning the hairbrained idea of billing the parents for the utilities, that was kinda bait for all the reasonable people to jump up and agree with me. Surely, everyone would jump on my softball platitude about how we should not be vengeful towards a paralyzed 16 year-old boy.

Ah, that did not happen. Wrong group today. I best mosey along.

The major problem with our legal system is we make claims like this “viable”.

Mannie, you follow-up comment adds a good deal of clarity to you and your position. Thanks.