$1 million+ lawsuit filed after tree crushes SUV in East Dallas, paralyzing young mother
By S.E. Jenkins
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Texas (KTVT) — A lawsuit for more than $1 million has been filed after a young mother was left paralyzed from the neck down when a tree suddenly fell on top of her SUV last month in East Dallas.
Court records say 32-year-old Maisie Marsau was pinned under the 30-foot-tall tree for over an hour and ultimately left with a severe spinal cord injury.
“She did not lose consciousness. Instead, she suffered alone and in excruciating pain and terror, believing that she would die and would never again be able to hold her baby or tell her family she loved them,” the lawsuit states.
She is now suing the property owner, David Patterson, who is also the chairman of the Texas Trees Foundation.
The lawsuit claims the homeowner failed to maintain the tree, which leaned heavily over the roadway and had long shown signs of decay.
“The hollow base and rotted interior were warning signs that any reasonably prudent landowner, and certainly the head of a tree foundation, had every reason to know about,” the lawsuit states.
The tree also struck a nearby power line, causing live electrical wires to continuously spark around Marsau’s SUV.
Homeowner says tree falling was “random thing” Patterson previously told CBS News Texas that the thousands of trees on his property are maintained by professionals.
“Every once in a while, one of them falls,” he said. “I wish it didn’t happen, but I don’t think there’s anything I can do about that because it’s a random thing. They were well tended to, I can tell you that, but I feel really bad if there was an injury.”
Patterson also said the tree appeared to be in good health.
The lawsuit claims the tree “posed an unreasonable risk of harm” to the frequently traveled road near Patterson’s property and alleges “multiple people” approached him over the years, “about the unsafe conditions of his trees.”
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