While many cases can and should settle, where a trial is required to resolve a dispute, Fitzpatrick Lentz & Bubba will do what is necessary to represent our clients’ rights. Take for instance, a recent case involving a Japanese Maple tree.
On May 10, 2016, the parties in Dettmer v. Shoemaker, asked the Northampton County Court of Common Pleas to determine whether the plaintiff had the immediate right to exclusive possession of a certain “Japanese Maple Tree of unknown cultivar with most extraordinary fall foliage.”
The plaintiff claimed that she purchased the Japanese Maple at issue from the previous owner of a Nursery and Garden Center in Bath, PA in the fall of 2009. In the summer of 2013, nearly four years after she allegedly purchased the tree, the plaintiff sought possession of a Japanese Maple tree from the owner of the property with which the Nursery had a land lease. The defendants, represented by Fitzpatrick Lentz & Bubba, argued that, while the plaintiff may have purchased a Japanese Maple tree in 2009, the tree to which plaintiff claimed ownership was a different one from the one she had purchased years ago.
After hearing the evidence, the Court agreed with the defendants. Judge Paula Roscioli determined that the tree the plaintiff purchased in the fall of 2009 was in a “balled and burlapped” state, with approximately a two-inch caliber, a ball of approximately 20-24 inches in diameter, and was of an average size Japanese Maple tree sold at the Nursery. The tree the plaintiff purchased was originally placed in a root-control bag and located in the central retail area. The previous owner of the Nursery had agreed to retain the tree for the plaintiff until the spring of 2010. The Court held that the fifteen-foot high, five-inch caliber tree that the plaintiff claimed was the one she purchased had been growing in the ground for many years and was not the same tree that the plaintiff purchased in 2009, especially as Japanese Maple trees have a reputation of being slow-growing.
Attorney Gretchen Geisser of FL&B’s Litigation practice represented the nursery at trial and noted, “Japanese Maple trees, specifically Acer palmatum trees, have a reputation for having extraordinarily beautiful foliage. I am pleased that the Judge allowed my clients to continue to enjoy its stunning color.”
