Trees and the reasonable and prudent landowner

In Stagecoach South Western Trains Ltd v Hind [2014] EWHC 1891 (TCC), Coulson J held that the duty owed by the defendant landowner to the claimant extended no further than carrying out periodic informal or preliminary inspections of the trees in her garden and that she was not under an obligation to employ an expert arboriculturalist for the purpose of inspecting the tree. She had discharged her duty to carry out these periodic inspections and so was not liable in negligence to the claimant. It was also held that a tree surgeon who had been employed by the defendant to work in the garden did not owe a duty of care to the claimant and was not subject to a duty to warn the claimant of the danger created by the tree.