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Why You Must Not Allow Your Shrubbery to Grow into A Public Right-Of-Way

I was visiting my mother-in-law recently and came upon a stop sign at a busy intersection. When I looked to my left to check for oncoming traffic, I realized that I could not see oncoming traffic clearly due to the overgrown shrubbery of the property owner on that corner. While this is not an unusual occurrence, many property owners fail to realize that they may be held legally liable for blocking the view of oncoming traffic.

The Florida Supreme Court recently addressed this confusing issue in the case of Williams v. Davis. In that case, a driver was killed at an intersection when they pulled into the path of an oncoming dump truck. Suit was brought against the property owner whose property abutted the roadway upon which the dump truck was traveling. The claim alleged the foliage on the property obstructed the deceased driver’s view of oncoming traffic at the intersection. The issue of liability turned upon whether the property owner owed a duty of care to drivers on the abutting roadways approaching intersection.

Interestingly, the court drew a distinction between shrubbery which the property owner maintained entirely within their own property line and shrubbery which they allowed to encroach into the public right-of-way. The court found that the property owner did owe a duty to the public not to allow shrubbery within their property to extend into the public right-of-way so as to interfere with motorist’s ability to safely travel on the adjoining roadway. A private residential land owner could be held accountable when they allowed conditions on their land to extend into the public right-of-way, creating a foreseeable risk of hazard to the motoring public.

The Florida Supreme Court has settled the issue of whether someone could be found liable for allowing their shrubbery to interfere with the view of traffic when the shrubbery was entirely within the bounds of the person’s property. The court found that no duty exists in that situation. Allowing that same shrubbery to extend into the right-of-way, however, exposes the homeowner to liability based upon the foreseeable risk of harm created.

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