Man loses bid for compo over damage caused by African mahogany in Cyclone Marcus

A man has failed in a bid to recover almost $30,000 in damages from the council after an African mahogany tree fell on his property during cyclone Marcus.

A LITCHFIELD man has failed in a bid to recover almost $30,000 in damages from the council after an African mahogany tree fell on his property during cyclone Marcus in 2018.

Geoffrey Littlewood sued the Litchfield Council in the NT Civil and Administrative Tribunal, claiming the tree crushed several of his trailers, a cherry picker and some tools worth a combined $28,800.

In her ruling, NTCAT member Lesley Hastwell said Mr Littlewood had claimed that as the tree was on the council’s land, it should have been aware of the risk of it falling and pruned or removed it before the storm hit.

“The applicant’s position is that the council (was) responsible for the tree and therefore they are responsible for the damage caused when the tree fell on the applicant’s property and caused damage to his trailers and other equipment,” she said.

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However the council argued it was not liable for the damage as the tree “fell as a result of abnormal natural forces, namely the severe and unpredictable winds and rain that came with Cyclone Marcus”.

The council also argued it had a system in place at the time through which residents could report concerns about particular trees and the council would dispatch an arborist to inspect them and report back on whether they posed a threat.

An African mahogany tree felled in cyclone Marcus. Picture: Keri Megelus

In dismissing the claim, Ms Hastwell said “there has to be common sense limits” on what measures councils were required to take to guard against unpredictable weather events.

“It is always foreseeable that a tree may fall in a storm or a cyclone but cyclones are rare and unpredictable events and cyclone Marcus was the strongest cyclone in Darwin for some 44 years,” she said.

Ms Hastwell said under the circumstances, the tree maintenance system the council had in place was “adequate and reasonable”.

“It is impossible to fully control the forces of nature and the system that they had developed had worked well in the many years since Cyclone Tracy,” she said.

“It is only in hindsight that everyone in Darwin has become much wiser about the vulnerability of African mahogany trees in a cyclone.”

Mr Littlewood told the tribunal he was unaware of the council’s reporting system and Ms Hastwell said had he been more “proactive” the council might have pruned or felled the tree for him.

“Short of razing all trees in the council area, a council could never cyclone proof the environment,” she said.

“Their system of reliance on self-reporting with a robust system of council response was an appropriate way of managing their duty of care.

“I am also satisfied that had the applicant genuine concerns about this tree (other than with the wisdom of hindsight), he would not have left his trailers and cherry picker in a position where the tree, if it fell would damage them.”

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