Dear Yoon,

I took business law as an elective when I was in University.  Laws may
likely have changed since then, and surely laws differ from state to
state, but a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away the legal
compensation for damage to trees was "treble damages" (three times the
value of the tree).  The fuzzy part is placing the value on the tree.
Your first order of business might be to investigate if Oklahoma has
tree compensation laws similar to New York (treble damage can be quite
a sum!)  Another unknown and possible bargaining chip you did not
mention is who had the right of way in this tale?  Do you have total,
clear title to the land or are there easements involved? The maturity
of the tree IS of consideration.  You might have success placing value
on the honey harvest as you described.  As far as the labor and care
you've put into the trees, that will likely be moot (the compensation
will be in the treble damage placed on the tree).  As in all things
legal, the hard part will be getting parties to agree on fair and just
compensation.  A simple scenario might start with placing a value on
the saplings and multiplying times 3 (not to your advantage).  Another
scenario might be contacting a tree spade (transplanting service) to
get an estimate for bringing in replacements of approximate size and
maturity and multiplying times 3.  A fair compromise might be
somewhere between the low and high end, taking care not to cross over
the line of what the coop is willing to compensate.  Mutually
agreeable compromise usually nets more for the offended party than
does forced compromise where most of the compensation goes to the
lawyers.

Aaron Morris - I think, therefore I bee!

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