## Facts

- Brad Redwine drove his father’s automobile northbound on Partridge Run in St. Louis County, Missouri.
- While attempting to pass another car, Redwine lost control, left the roadway, and entered Kyle and Hildegard Fondren’s front yard.
- The vehicle struck and permanently injured a large pin oak tree on the Fondrens’ property.
- It was undisputed Redwine had no permission to enter the property, and he testified his entry was unintentional.
- The Fondrens sought recovery under a Missouri statute authorizing treble damages for unauthorized injury to trees on another’s land.

## Issues

1. Whether the evidence supported submitting the Fondrens’ claim under the Missouri tree-injury treble-damages statute rather than limiting the case to negligence.
2. Whether an unintentional, accidental entry onto land can constitute the statutory “trespass” necessary to trigger treble damages for injury to trees.
3. Whether the trial court erred by refusing the Fondrens’ requested statutory-trespass jury instruction and instead instructing on negligence damages.

## Decision

- The Missouri Court of Appeals affirmed the judgment for the Fondrens based on negligence and compensatory damages.
- The court held the trial court did not err in refusing to submit a statutory trespass instruction allowing treble damages.
- The court concluded the record showed an inadvertent, non-volitional entry after Redwine lost control, supporting negligence but not the statutory trespass required for treble damages.
- The court rejected Redwine’s cross-appeal arguments to the extent they sought reversal of the negligence-based judgment.

## Legal Principles

- A party seeking submission of a statutory cause of action must present evidence of probative value supporting each element, or reasonable inferences establishing those elements.
- Missouri’s treble-damages statute for injury to trees on another’s land is punitive in nature and is strictly construed.
- For treble damages under the tree-injury statute, “trespass” is interpreted consistently with traditional trespass principles requiring a volitional entry; purely accidental entry is insufficient.
- Negligent operation of a vehicle that results in an unintended entry onto another’s property may warrant compensatory damages, but does not, without more, trigger statutory treble damages.

## Conclusion

Because Redwine’s vehicle entered the Fondrens’ property only after he lost control and without a purposeful decision to enter, the evidence supported negligence liability and compensatory damages but did not support the statutory trespass necessary for treble damages; the trial court’s negligence submission and resulting judgment were therefore affirmed.


Fondren v. Redwine, 905 S.W.2d 156 (Mo. Ct. App. E.D. 1995)