Timber Theft & Trespass

Timber theft is taken very seriously in the State of Maine. Our vast, unpopulated expanses of undeveloped land make it difficult to detect the theft of one’s timber from an unattended and remote wood lot. Maine’s Timber Trespass law imposes some of its most severe monetary penalties on those who take another’s timber, including double damages and attorney’s fees to the landowner who successfully pursues a Timber Trespass action in court against even those who innocently, but mistakenly, cut over their own property line and take trees from their neighbor’s lot.

Timber Trespass also includes illegally cutting ornamental trees, screening vegetation, and those nice old shade trees on a residential lot. Gross, Minsky & Mogul, P.A., has represented clients in many types of Timber Trespass. They use technology to create accurate depictions of what a property looked like before illegal cutting.

Low-tech approaches can work equally well, such as cutting out a 20″ stump left by a timber thief to use as a trial exhibit. Our attorneys employ nationally and internationally recognized experts on timber valuation to assess damages. One of our attorneys has edited portions of a forestry manual on timber valuation.

Experience at Gross, Minsky & Mogul, P.A.,

Our attorneys have presented on Timber Trespass to the Maine Small Woodland Owners Association.  They have experience with claims arising from the cutting of ornamental trees in residential areas to wrongful harvesting of commercial wood lots.  The attorneys at Gross, Minsky & Mogul, P.A., know the intricacies of these complex legal matters and stand ready to help you whether your land has been illegally cut or you stand accused of conduct.