Carolyn Furey says she arrived home from work in early January to an unwelcome surprise: Six large pine trees in her yard had disappeared.

"All that was left were stumps and sawdust," said Furey, who lives in a hilly Southwest Portland neighborhood nestled below Council Crest.

It wasn't difficult to figure out who so brazenly whacked the trees: It was her neighbor Andrew Jansky, Furey said.

She has now filed a $35,925 lawsuit against Jansky, claiming that he wantonly, maliciously and intentionally cut down the trees on the edge of her property. Furey can't be certain why Jansky wanted the trees gone. Theories range from wanting a better view of the street and homes below, or wanting the sun to shine on his second-floor deck without the trees blocking the light.

"It has been months of grief," Furey said. "I get shaky just talking about it."

Jansky's attorney didn't return calls from The Oregonian/OregonLive seeking comment. Jansky didn't return messages left for him at his Southwest Altadena Avenue home.

Furey lives on the next street over -- Southwest Redondo Avenue -- and her side yard borders Jansky's backyard. A 6-foot wooden fence divides the two properties. The six trees were on Furey's side. Most of the them were within a foot of the fence.

Furey said the trees stood 30 to 40 feet tall. The largest stump left is 24 inches in diameter.

One of the trees was dead, but still solidly standing, and Furey believed it wasn't a hazard, she said. The other five trees were healthy, and she hired an arborist who studied the stumps and confirmed that, she said. She also hired a land surveyor, she said. She believes that at trial, the surveyor's report will validate her contention that the trees were on her property.

Furey said Jansky never spoke to her about his dislike of the trees or tried to work out a solution that would make him happy.

Jansky also didn't get a city permit to cut down the trees beforehand.

Jansky states on his company's website, Flow Solutions, that he is a civil engineer with a "strong construction background." The firm specializes in "waterfront planning, permitting and design."

Jansky has interacted extensively with city officials over the years. He sat on the city of Portland's Design Commission for two terms from 2004 to 2012.

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According to Furey, it was dark when she got home from work around 7:30 p.m. one day in January. She noticed plant debris near the edge of her property.

It looked as if a storm had blown down some pine needles and the other debris, and she didn't think much of it, she said. She also had recently torn the meniscus in her knee, so she couldn't walk around her yard to inspect.

Early the next morning, Furey said it was still dark when she left to go to work. She tried to drive out of her driveway, she said, but a truck was blocking her exit. Men and various pieces of heavy equipment were on her property and in the street, she said.

Another neighbor told Furey over the phone that she thought sewer work was underway. But Furey said it looked as if the men were standing on her property as they were staging to do some sort of work on Jansky's lot.

"I said, 'Hey, you don't have any permission to be on my property, and the guy just kind of shrugged,'" Furey said of one of the workers.

Frustrated about the equipment and men standing on her property, she snapped a photo of one of the worker's pickups. It had no company name or logo on it, she said.

"I was focused on going to work," Furey said. "If I had any idea what was going on, I would have called police."

When she returned home that evening, she discovered her trees were stumps.

A neighbor told her that earlier in the day she had seen Jansky standing with the tree crew, Furey said. Furey filed an online report with Portland police -- alleging criminal trespass, vandalism and theft of timber that she figures was worth a few thousand dollars.

After two weeks passed and she hadn't heard back from police, she called them and was told that they didn't have time to devote a detective to investigating, she said.

When contacted by The Oregonian/OregonLive, police spokesman Sgt. Pete Simpson said police don't typically respond to such cases.

"I've never heard of a police investigation regarding tree cutting in the city of Portland," Simpson said. "Civil action is definitely a course of action for many people with neighbor disputes."

***

Furey said she checked with the city and discovered that no one had applied for a permit to cut down the trees. She complained, and the city investigated. On Feb. 23 -- six weeks after her trees were cut -- the city granted a tree-cutting permit to Jansky retroactively for $25, according to the city.

City forester and manager Jenn Cairo said Jansky showed a city tree inspector an aerial photograph of the trees -- and the photograph included a property line that indicated the trees were on his property. The city didn't verify the accuracy of the property line on the photograph, Cairo said.

She couldn't say whether the tree inspector questioned why the trees were on Furey's side of the fence -- not Jansky's. But she said fences don't always reflect the true property line.

"We have no reason to believe anything was false," Cairo said.

The city found Jansky in violation for failing to get a permit under the tree-cutting code, which was revised effective this past January. The city has the ability to fine violators up to $1,000 per day per tree.

But Cairo said the city didn't fine Jansky because the city has shown leniency while the public gets familiar with new regulations in the code. Jansky, however, was told he needed to plant six trees on his property to replace the missing trees.

***

After the city granted Jansky the retroactive tree-cutting permit, Furey said she felt she had no other options but to file a lawsuit.

Jansky's house -- which is uphill from Furey's -- now has an unobstructed view into her yard.

"I don't even like to go on that side of my house, it's so upsetting," Furey said.

Jansky's insurer, Country Financial, offered her $2,000 to settle the dispute, she said. But that doesn't come close to covering her costs, she said.

Her suit seeks her costs for hiring an arborist and a land surveyor, replacing damaged shrubs trampled during the tree-cutting, digging up the root balls of the cut trees and buying replacement trees. The lawsuit estimates those costs at about $11,975.

Under Oregon's "Timber Trespass" law, which was meant to address timber theft, Furey is seeking triple that amount. She also is seeking an unspecified amount for attorney's fees and for inconvenience and emotional suffering. Portland attorney Roscoe Nelson is representing Furey.

Read the lawsuit here. The suit was filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court.

Read a story about the tree-cutting requirements of Portland area cities here.

-- Aimee Green

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