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Neighbors' Dispute Over Towering Tree, 'Super Squirrel' Winds Up in Court

By Benjamin Woodard | December 12, 2014 5:08am
 A squirrel climbs on a tree that Grady Humphrey says damages his property.
A squirrel climbs on a tree that Grady Humphrey says damages his property.
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DNAinfo/Benjamin Woodard

ROGERS PARK — A dispute between neighbors over a towering tree and its abundant seed pods — and a "super squirrel" attracted to the tree on Fargo Avenue — has landed in court after a former candidate for 49th Ward alderman filed a lawsuit.

Grady Humphrey, 63, said he has lived in a town house in the 1500 block of West Fargo Avenue for 20 years and never had an issue with the neighboring condo building's Catalpa tree until it grew so large its leaves and seed pods began to clog his gutters this year. That, he said, led his basement to flood.

He says the tree — which is taller than the four-story condo building — easily lets squirrels access the top of his two-story home.

 The tree is located on a condo buildings property, but its branches extend onto Grady Humphrey's property.
The tree is located on a condo buildings property, but its branches extend onto Grady Humphrey's property.
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DNAinfo/Benjamin Woodard

"They run on the roof," he said Thursday. "You can hear them during the day and the evening time. They’re damaging my property."

According to the small claims lawsuit, handwritten and filed in September, Humphrey demands $8,000 to cover costs relating to water damage in his basement and damage to the roof.

"All they had to do was cut the branch back, but they refuse to do it," he said.

But condo association president Kyle Hillman, who's named on the lawsuit as the defendant, said he and his attorney would request the suit be thrown out at an upcoming court date in January.

"He believes that a squirrel that lives in the tree [damaged his roof] because the squirrel runs back and forth," Hillman said. "Obviously, I don’t take credit for a super squirrel."

Hillman said he and his fellow condo neighbors are in "disbelief" about the case — and are making a tongue-in-cheek demand of their own: “I think he owes the squirrel an apology."

Yet Humphrey says the suit was his last resort. Why the tree hasn't been trimmed to his satisfaction "doesn’t make no sense," he said.

Meanwhile, Humphrey had been a candidate in the upcoming aldermanic race in the 49th Ward, but was challenged for having too few signatures on his nomination petitions.

The Chicago Board of Election Commissioner's tossed him off the ballot Thursday morning for being one signature shy of the required number.

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