Dead Tree Limb Falls on Private Property: $2 Million Premises Settlement
Won by Marks & Harrison.
A falling dead limb left a person with a concussion and a shoulder injury on private property, and Marks & Harrison settled the premises-liability claim for $2 million after mediation ended an eight-day trial before it began.
What happened
A dead tree limb broke loose on private property in Virginia and fell on a person standing below. The blow was hard enough to cause a concussion and an injury to the plaintiff's shoulder. Virginia Lawyers Weekly reported the matter as a premises-liability claim, the kind of case that turns on the condition of the tree and on what the property owner knew, or should have known, about the danger overhead.
The harm did not end on the day of the incident. A concussion can leave a person with headaches, trouble concentrating, and symptoms that drag on for weeks or longer. A damaged shoulder usually means imaging, therapy, and limits on lifting and reaching. Those are the injuries that shaped the value of the claim, where the question is whether a landowner kept the grounds reasonably safe for the people who came onto them.
In Virginia, a case like this rises or falls on notice. The plaintiff had to show that the owner knew the limb was dead and dangerous, or that the rotted condition had been visible long enough that a reasonable inspection would have caught it. Marks & Harrison built the file toward a jury, with attorneys Joseph E. Dean, Edward E. Scher, and Ryan T. Walker handling the work.
The court set the case for an eight-day jury trial. It never started. As Virginia Lawyers Weekly described it, "The plaintiff was injured on private property when a dead tree limb fell striking the plaintiff. The matter was set for an eight-day jury trial but was settled after mediation with Judge Thomas S. Shadrick (Ret.)." The parties reached terms in that session rather than leaving the result to a jury.
The settlement came to $2 million. Because the case resolved by agreement, no remittitur or appeal reduced the figure. Virginia Lawyers Weekly later listed the result in its Million-Dollar Settlements of 2025, one of four Marks & Harrison settlements named in that roundup. A firm-issued press release credited the $2 million premises result to Ryan T. Walker and Joseph E. Dean.
The published accounts did not name the property owner or pinpoint the location beyond the private grounds where the limb came down.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
- 1.Virginia Lawyers Weekly: dead tree limb fell, causing concussion and shoulder injury, $2 million settlement·Archived copy
- 2.Virginia Lawyers Weekly: Million-Dollar Settlements of 2025 (roundup)·Archived copy
- 3.Marks & Harrison firm-issued press release (24-7 Press Release wire), last-resort confirmation of the $2M premises result and attorneys·Archived copy
More proven verdicts from Marks & Harrison
All Marks & Harrison proven verdicts →A tractor-trailer drifted into a retired 20-year veteran's lane on Interstate 95 North and killed him, and Marks & Harrison recovered $10 million for his family before any lawsuit was filed.
A City of Richmond worker suffered permanent brain damage when a runaway Norfolk Southern boxcar with a missing brake rod drove a floodwall gate into him, and a Richmond jury returned a $10 million verdict.
A heavy retail display toppled onto a 7-year-old, fracturing the child's skull and forcing emergency brain surgery, and Marks & Harrison resolved the premises liability case for $9 million.
In February 2015 a Chesterfield County, Virginia police officer fired a Taser at Miles November, a 27-year-old man trapped in a wrecked car soaked in gasoline after a police chase. His clothing ignited and he suffered burns over most of his body, followed by months in the hospital and more than 30 surgeries. He sued the county and the officer in federal court in Richmond. The case settled in 2018 for $6.5 million, paid by the county's commercial insurer and its self-insurance fund.
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