LISBON - A Lisbon man is seeking more than $10 million in damages from Ohio Edison and the company they hired to cut down 39 trees on his property.
On Monday, Wayne Wilson, of 37093 U.S. Route 30, filed a motion to amend his complaint against Ohio Edison, specifically naming the damages he seeks and adding a defendant to the case. Columbiana County Common Pleas Court Judge C. Ashley Pike approved the motion Tuesday and allowed the complaint to be amended.
The amended complaint seeks compensatory damages in excess of $50,000 and putative damages of $10 million. The compensatory damages include "the value of the trees cut and timber unlawfully removed, as well as the diminution in value of the premises," the complaint states.
Penn Line Service, Inc., of Scottsdale, Penn., the company hired by Ohio Edison to remove Wilson's blue spruce pine trees on Feb. 6, was added as a defendant in the amended complaint.
Asked for a comment regarding Wilson's complaint, Tricia Ingraham, a spokesperson for FirstEnergy, the parent company of Ohio Edison, said, "We do this kind of vegetation management work as part of our ongoing effort to provide safe and reliable electric service to our customers."
"Utilities are under pressure from federal regulators to make sure there are not outages resulting from contact with power lines. Many utilities have taken a more aggressive stance that if trees are under the lines, they need to come out. And we do have easements in place that allow us to perform the work," Ingraham said.
Ohio Edison holds a transmission easement over Wilson's property. In the mid-1980s, Wilson planted the trees on his property to "ensure privacy and enhance the value of his property," the complaint states.
In March 2007, Ohio Edison said the trees posed a threat to transmission lines and requested Wilson agree to cutting down 50 trees, the complaint states.
In December, Pike granted Wilson a temporary injunction against having his trees cut, but in January denied a permanent injunction, ruling Ohio Edison could technically cut the trees, though he recommended the utility wait until the case could be heard on its full merits.
Ignoring the recommendation, Ohio Edison cut the trees in February. After Ohio Edison cut the trees, Wilson erected crosses on the land where the trees once stood.
Wilson later requested Pike recuse himself from the upcoming trial because of Pike's denying permanent injunction, but Pike ruled in May he will not recuse himself.
A March 3, 2009 trial date has been set to determine if Ohio Edison acted properly when cutting down the trees.
Leonard Glenn Crist can be reached at lcrist@salemnews.net
