Dr Martin Dobson has been acting as an expert witness since 1995 and has considerable experience having completed hundreds of expert witness reports and represented clients in the County Court, High Court and in mediations.
Dr Martin Dobson has been a leading examiner for the ABC/Royal Forestry Society Professional Diploma in Arboriculture for 12 years. This is the premier professional qualification in arboriculture.
Tree-related subsidence claims Trees are often implicated in damage to buildings through their roots drying out shrinkable clay soils below shallow foundations. Frequently claims are made against the tree owner for the damage that has been caused. Martin Dobson provide an arboricultural expert witness service acting for both claimants and defendants (or as a single joint expert)and has a proven track record over the course of the last 15 years. Reports are CPR 35 compliant unless instructed otherwise.
Hazardous trees claims Trees are potentially dangerous structures and sometimes (albeit rarely) they fail with catastrophic results causing damage to property or injury to people. Frequently claims are made against the tree owner. Martin Dobson provides an arboricultural expert witness service for both claimants and defendants. The key issues in such cases are twofold: was the tree failure foreseeable and was the owner negligent in his duty of care?
Boundary disputes A tree belongs to, and is the responsibility of, the person who owns the land on which it stands. Occasionally the ownership of a tree is unclear because it grows on or near to a boundary. On many occasions ownership can be established non-destructively by taking borings from the trunk of the tree to find the exact centre and this can be compared with marked boundaries or title deeds.
Property The expert arboriculturalists, Mr Kelly for the Claimant and Dr Dobson for the Defendant, have agreed, from viewing aerial photographs, that the 2000 photograph shows that the crown of the birch tree is larger in 2000 than it was on the 1998 photograph. Case Report
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