On Mon, 07 Mar 2005 11:42:33 GMT, betruger wrote:

Long story short, I hired a contractor to remove three trees from
my property and in the process he caused damage beyond the usual yard
dings from falling limbs and trunks.

I come late into this thread andf haven't read all the responses. My
suggestion is that, before anyone lets a contrator do major work on
the property, it may be a good idea to take as many digital photos as
possible of the original condition on the property. Use the current
newspaper with headlines as part of the image to establish the date in
the photos. Perhaps do a video record too. This will solve a lot of
"I said you said" disputes.