FOR INSURANCE CLAIMS

Cause of failure determination for Alabama tree claims

The file says the tree failed. It doesn't say why.

Was it sound before the wind hit it, or was it already failing and the storm finished the job? That's what the claim turns on, and it isn't an adjusting question. It's an arboriculture question, and no photograph set answers it.

You still have to take a position.

The answer is already degrading

It's in the wood. Condition is on the fracture surface, in the root plate, and at the root collar under the soil line. What anyone could have seen from the yard is on the outside of the trunk.

All of it stays readable for a few weeks. After that the cut surfaces weather and check, the color difference between sound wood and early decay fades, and the best evidence in the file is gone.

The fracture surface is primary evidence, and it stays legible for about as long as it takes to open a file and assign it.

Then somebody grinds the stump, and the question becomes unanswerable by anyone, on either side, permanently.

Whatever you put in the file gets read by someone looking for a way into it

The carrier's arborist. Opposing counsel. The adjuster on the other side of a subrogation file.

They aren't reading it to learn about the tree. They're reading it for the sentence that goes further than the evidence, and in most reports there is one.

A determination that can't be defended is worse than no determination, because it puts a weak document in a file that would otherwise be silent.

And the obvious solution has a problem attached to it

Call an arborist. Reasonable, and it's what most people do.

The problem is structural. Most arborists in this market sell tree work, so the person inspecting the failure is often the person who would like to quote the removal, the replanting, or the treatment on that property. That's a financial interest in the outcome, and it's the easiest attack in the file. It doesn't require disputing a single observation.

Even setting that aside, most reports come apart on process. No species identification. No weather data pulled for the date. Nobody walked the property before forming a view. None of that takes expertise to avoid, and all of it is visible to somebody reading for a way in.

An opinion is worth what the other side can't do to it.

I'm David W. Boggan, a Board Certified Master Arborist in Birmingham. I investigate tree failures and write the document that answers the question the claim turns on.

Three things, matched to the three problems above.

You get something for the file in 48 hours

A verbal finding within 48 hours of the site examination. A call telling you what the evidence supports, before anything is written, so the file isn't sitting empty while you wait on a vendor.

The written document follows in 7 to 10 business days, depending on which one the matter needs and who has to rely on it. I'll give you the whole calendar at intake: the site date, when the verbal finding lands, and when the document is due.

Rush work is available when a deadline requires it, and it's priced accordingly. Say so at intake so I can hold the schedule, and if you're up against something tight, tell me at the first call rather than the last one.

The document is built to be checked

There are four ways a tree report comes apart. The document is built against all four.

The opinion runs past the evidence. The report states what the tree's condition was, then keeps going and states what the policy should pay. The second half was never the arborist's to give, and offering it invites the whole document to be treated as advocacy.

I opine on condition and mechanism, and I stop there. Whether the condition I describe meets the policy definition is the carrier's determination. A report that wanders past that line hands the carrier's arborist something easy to work with.

The method isn't stated. A conclusion with no described method can't be checked, which means it can't be defended either. "In my professional opinion the tree was decayed" is a sentence with nothing underneath it.

Mine states the methodology used, and the photographic figures are keyed to the observations, so a reader can put my words and the wood side by side.

Alternatives were never ruled out. If the report doesn't show which other explanations were considered and why each was set aside, the other side supplies one for free and the report has no answer waiting.

Mine lists the alternative explanations considered and ruled out, with the reason each one was ruled out. That section exists specifically so there's nothing left to introduce.

The author had something to sell. An arborist who quoted the removal, or who stands to get the replanting, has a financial interest in the finding. It's the easiest attack in the file and it doesn't require disputing a single observation.

Mine carries a disclosure that only gets written when every clause of it is true. That's the next section.

The opinion comes with a stated level of confidence. Longer matters get the full booklet structure: cover letter, summary, introduction, observations, testing and analysis, discussion, conclusions, recommendations, glossary, bibliography, appendices, assumptions and limiting conditions, and certification of performance.

I have nothing to sell on the property

I don't remove trees. I don't bid tree work.

If a tree has failed and there's an insurance claim, if a neighbor is involved, or if there's any chance an attorney will read what I write, I will not quote treatment or remedial work on that property. Not because it would be improper, but because the moment I have a financial interest in the outcome, the other side has a reason to discount everything I've said.

Every report carries this statement:

I have no financial interest in the findings or conclusions of this report. I do not perform tree removal or structural pruning. I have not quoted, and will not quote, treatment or remedial work on this property. My fee is for professional time and is not contingent on findings, conclusions, or the outcome of any matter.

That statement only gets written when every clause of it is true, which means the decision not to quote work happens at the start of the assignment.

And if the evidence isn't there, I tell you

If Phase 1 doesn't support an opinion, we stop there and I tell you why. You pay for Phase 1 and nothing beyond it.

I'd rather tell you the evidence is thin than write around it. That's also the only reason my favorable findings are worth anything. An expert who never returns an unhelpful answer isn't returning an answer at all.

Before you commit to any of it, I'll ask what's actually at stake on the claim. If the dollar difference is modest, the investigation can cost more than the outcome is worth, and I'd rather say that up front than take the assignment and have you wonder later why you bothered.

Before you do anything else, preserve the evidence

Call me before the stump gets ground.

Leave it completely undisturbed. Don't grind it, re-cut it, cover it, or treat it. If any part of the trunk or the failed section is still on the property, preserve that too.

Photographs help. They don't replace the wood.

If cleanup already happened, tell me what's left and where it went before you decide the investigation is impossible. The stump and the root plate carry most of it, and cleanup crews usually leave them. Crews haul the canopy and the trunk sections. The base is heavy, it's in the ground, and it stays.

What I can determine, and what I can't

I can determine:

Extent and distribution of decay at the failure plane
How much sound wood was still holding when the tree came down
Cavities, included bark, and weak unions
Root and root collar defects, including buried root collars and girdling roots
Root plate condition and the mechanism of failure
Prior wounds, previous failures, and old pruning injury
Lightning injury where the pattern is present
Whether the condition observed is consistent with the reported event
Whether the defect would have been apparent to the property owner from the ground, which is the notice question in a liability matter

I can't determine:

Wind speed at the property. I cite recorded weather data from the nearest reporting station and work from what the wood shows
How the policy applies. That one belongs to the carrier

The second list is shorter, and it's the more useful one. An expert who can't name the edge of their own competence hasn't found it yet.

How the investigation runs

Phase 1, site examination and evidence review. I examine the failure surface, map and measure decay, examine the root collar and root plate, and review the photographs and records you provide. It ends with the verbal finding.

Phase 2, the written document. The letter or the full report, depending on what the matter needs and who has to rely on it.

What to send me

There's no charge for looking at photographs. They tell me quickly whether the assignment is viable and they let me arrive knowing what I'm looking for.

Photographs taken right after the failure, before cleanup
Any photographs of the tree from before the event, including listing photos and family pictures
The date and time of the reported event
Prior tree work invoices, arborist reports, or inspection records
Any opinion already in the file
Whether the debris has been moved, and where it went

A short prior report gets read as part of intake. A long one is a records review, quoted as its own line before I start it.

Call if it's easier than typing. Most of what I need to hear takes about five minutes on the phone.

Who this is for

Independent adjusters, public adjusters, staff adjusters, restoration contractors, property managers, and attorneys working a tree matter before suit.

Fees

Quoted per assignment, in writing, before any work begins. The price includes one site examination of up to 2 hours, with travel inside 20 miles.

Work outside that scope is billed at my standard hourly rate, quoted with the assignment, and I call you before I spend it. Additional site visits, a second property, records beyond what we described at intake, meetings with an adjuster or attorney. I don't run up hours and invoice afterward.

Credentials

David W. Boggan, consulting arborist, Birmingham, Alabama.

ISA Board Certified Master Arborist, certificate #SO-5270BU
ISA Certified Arborist Utility Specialist
Tree Risk Assessment Qualified since 2013, current through June 2028
Member, American Society of Consulting Arborists
U.S. Navy, 1990 to 1994, Honorable Discharge

The ISA's 2024 Annual Report counted 40,048 ISA Certified Arborists worldwide. Of those, 1,391 hold the Board Certified Master Arborist credential and 3,010 hold the Utility Specialist credential. I hold both.

Over 10,000 trees inspected in my career. That figure is a conservative career estimate rather than a logged per-tree count, and I'll say so on the stand the same way I'm saying it here.

Verify any of it directly through the ISA's credential search.

Common questions

Can you tell me how fast the wind was blowing?

No. I cite recorded weather data from the nearest reporting station. The wind speed at a specific property isn't something an arborist can measure after the fact. I work from what the wood shows.

What if your finding hurts my position?

You get it anyway, in the verbal finding, before anything is written. That's what Phase 1 is for. Knowing early that the evidence points the other way is worth more to you than a document that says what you wanted and doesn't survive review.

The tree's already been hauled off. Is there anything left to look at?

Often, yes. The stump, the root plate, and the failure surface at the base carry most of the evidence, and cleanup crews usually leave all three. Send photographs and tell me what's still on site.

How is this different from a tree risk assessment?

A risk assessment looks forward at a standing tree and rates the likelihood of failure. A cause of failure investigation looks backward at a tree that already failed and determines why. Different question, different method.

Do you work outside Jefferson County?

Yes, anywhere in Alabama. The first 20 miles from my office are included in the price. Past that, travel is quoted with the assignment and you're told the figure at booking, never on the invoice afterward.

Contact

David W. Boggan, Consulting Arborist Birmingham, Alabama

205-854-3676

david@alabama-arborist.com

Send photographs and a short description of the failure. I'll tell you whether there's an investigation worth running, and I'll tell you straight if there isn't.

If you'd rather just talk it through first, call. I'd rather spend fifteen minutes on the phone with you than have you hire the wrong person for it.