Attorney Files $54 Million Lawsuit to Stop 'Secret Scorched Earth' Campaign

You could call Southfield attorney Geoffrey Fieger and his clients tree huggers – except that trees are disappearing in Bloomfield Township faster than nature lovers can wrap their arms around them in what Fieger calls DTE Energy’s “secret scorched Earth” campaign.

Fieger has filed a $54 million lawsuit in Oakland County Circuit Court to stop the utility from clear cutting hundreds of century-old hardwood trees, The Detroit News and the Observer & Eccentric report.

The “Ground to Sky” campaign is an aggressive program to help prevent future power outages developed in response to a Michigan Public Service Commission directive after about 60,000 DTE Energy and Consumers Energy customers lost power in a December 2013 ice storm.

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That directive requires that trees that pose a threat to overhead wires and equipment within a 30-foot easement – including trees on private property – be trimmed or removed. About 40 percent of the total tree-related outages during the storm were caused by trees on private property, Consumers Energy estimates.

“The genesis of this is that DTE thought it would be cheaper to clear cut than to bury their lines,” Fieger said Wednesday in a telephone interview with the Observer & Eccentric. “We’ve had power lines in Michigan for over 100 years, we’ve had trees for over 100 years and we’ve had storms for over 100 years. Nothing changed, but they thought they could clear cut.”

In response to complaints, Bloomfield Township halted the tree-trimming and removal project after 20 landowners on Kensington Road lost their trees. DTE Energy began cutting the trees in December.

“DTE and Davey had absolutely no authority to clear cut trees or to convert the trees as their own property,” Fieger wrote in a news release announcing the lawsuit. “Since the carnage, DTE has been secretly trying to settle with property owners.”

The lawsuits were filed in Oakland County Circuit Court on behalf of property owners Inge Gray, David and Nara Scott and Mary and Joseph Gardella, whose homes are located on Kensington Road in Bloomfield Township.

“I just want my yard back and some privacy trees,” David Scott said. “They had no right going onto our property and taking down trees that clearly were not affecting the power lines. It wasn’t our intent to file a lawsuit, but nobody from DTE ever contacted us about trying to make this right.”

Mary Gardella said she and her husband lost 24 trees.

“They just were hell-bent to show us what they could do,” she said, adding crews “pretty much destroyed our backyard.”

Also named in the lawsuit was Davey Tree, the company under contract with DTE Energy to remove the trees. The company is being paid $54 million – the amount of money sought in the lawsuit – to do the work.

A DTE spokesman said the utility is preparing a response.

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Photo via Creative Commons