Rebecca Young (Partner-Birmingham, AL) won a defense verdict for an international vegetation management client in a pollution nuisance and trespass case. The Plaintiff landowner accused the firm’s client of dumping massive amounts of rubbish and debris on its property and sought nearly $ 1 million in damages to remediate the land.

At trial, Rebecca aggressively cross-examined Plaintiff’s land appraisal expert to demonstrate that Plaintiff did not have sufficient evidence to show diminution in property value. Plaintiff’s expert conceded when questioned by Rebecca that his valuation of diminution in value was based solely on the cost of remediation, which is insufficient under Alabama law.

Additionally, Rebecca was able to obtain admissions from the Plaintiff's witnesses that they could not provide information regarding how much of the alleged debris was placed on the property by the Defendant as opposed to other parties. She also established that the witnesses had no evidence that the Defendant ever placed garbage on the property, despite the presence of garbage depicted in several of the Plaintiff's photographs.

Ultimately, a verdict was entered in our client’s favor on all claims.