Chop down a tree; lose a dwelling

By August, Raymond Mazzarella was fed up with the tree in his neighbor’s yard in Pittston Township, Pennsylvania, as it was continuously dripping sap onto his car — and so grabbed a chain saw, cut through the 36-inch-wide trunk, and fixed the problem. However, the tree fell directly onto Mazzarella’s small apartment house, dispossessing five tenants and, ultimately, forcing inspectors to condemn the entire building.

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