The Tale of the $1.4 Million Trees

When is a group of trees worth more than a million dollars? When they’re on Nantucket and they’ve been cut down – maybe illegally.

Neighbors feuding – and even eventually suing each other – over trees that may have been cut down without permission is nothing new. It’s been going on since people began living near each other and wanted a better view of the surroundings.

But a million-dollar war on the upscale island of Nantucket off the coast of Massachusetts may be taking this to a new level.

The online newsletter Business Insider recently reported on a case now playing out in a state court where one homeowner is accusing her neighbor of chopping down “a swath of nearly 50-year-old trees” on her property.

According to BI, Patricia Belford “is seeking $1.4 million in damages and has alleged in the court papers that Jonathan Jacoby trespassed onto her property and cut down the trees ‘to enhance the ocean view’ from his own compound – there’s the main house, guest cottage, pool, and hot tub – that sits on about a half-acre next door.”

Belford, BI reported, said the incident occurred during the winter offseason when Jacoby “walked across his property at 3 Tautemo Way and onto Belford’s land. On his own, he used a chainsaw to cut down 16 30-foot-high cedar, cherry and Leyland cypress trees before he asked his landscaper to help him clean up the debris.”

According to the newsletter, Jacoby’s home was soon put on the market for nearly $10 million, with a listing that boasted “sweeping views of the Atlantic Ocean,” but it has been subsequently removed. Belford contends in her suit that previous listings did not mention anything about ocean views.

The Nantucket Police Department has charged Jacoby with vandalizing property, a felony, and the misdemeanors of trespassing and cutting/destroying trees, the chief of police confirmed to BI.

Jacoby’s attorney declined to comment to BI on the suit but said his client would enter a not guilty plea when the case is scheduled to be arraigned on September 15. The newsletter said it reached out to Jacoby directly but he could not be reached. However in an email to the Boston Globe, BI reported that he told the newspaper, “I wasn’t trespassing, I was clearing out her crappy trees.”

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