SUPREME COURT SHOULD NOT HAVE DEVIATED FROM THE STIPULATION ENTERED INTO BY THE PARTIES WHICH DESCRIBED THE DAMAGES AVAILABLE UNDER REAL PROPERTY ACTIONS AND PROCEEDINGS LAW (RPAPL) FOR THE INADVERTENT REMOVAL OF TREES FROM PLAINTIFFS’ PROPERTY BY DEFENDANTS (THIRD DEPT).

The Third Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined the trial court erred when it deviated from a stipulation entered into by the parties concerning the measure of damages for trees inadvertently cut and removed from plaintiffs’ property by defendants:

… Supreme Court erred in deviating from their stipulation in rendering the damages award. No grounds have been shown to vacate the parties’ clearly expressed agreement as to the merchantability of the various trees or the methodology to be used in formulating the award. As the parties here were “free to chart their own course [and] fashion the basis upon which [this] particular controversy [would] be resolved” … , Supreme Court was not free to substitute its own judgment for that of the parties … . We must therefore determine, in the exercise of our discretion and in accordance with the parties’ stipulation, the appropriate measure of damages to be awarded as a consequence of defendants’ illegal removal of the 442 trees from plaintiffs’ property. * * *

Considering the facts and circumstances of this case, and mindful of the overriding purpose and intent of RPAPL 861, we find that plaintiffs are entitled to statutory damages of $250 per tree for the 442 trees cut and removed… . We emphasize that our discretionary determination in this regard is narrow and circumscribed by the parties’ stipulation … , which we are bound to honor. Halstead v Fournia, 2018 NY Slip Op 02525, Third Dept 4-12-18

​REAL PROPERTY ACTIONS AND PROCEEDINGS LAW (RPAPL) (SUPREME COURT SHOULD NOT HAVE DEVIATED FROM THE STIPULATION ENTERED INTO BY THE PARTIES WHICH DESCRIBED THE DAMAGES AVAILABLE UNDER REAL PROPERTY ACTIONS AND PROCEEDINGS LAW (RPAPL) FOR THE INADVERTENT REMOVAL OF TREES FROM PLAINTIFFS’ PROPERTY BY DEFENDANTS (THIRD DEPT))/CONTRACT LAW (STIPULATIONS, SUPREME COURT SHOULD NOT HAVE DEVIATED FROM THE STIPULATION ENTERED INTO BY THE PARTIES WHICH DESCRIBED THE DAMAGES AVAILABLE UNDER REAL PROPERTY ACTIONS AND PROCEEDINGS LAW (RPAPL) FOR THE INADVERTENT REMOVAL OF TREES FROM PLAINTIFFS’ PROPERTY BY DEFENDANTS (THIRD DEPT))/STIPULATIONS (SUPREME COURT SHOULD NOT HAVE DEVIATED FROM THE STIPULATION ENTERED INTO BY THE PARTIES WHICH DESCRIBED THE DAMAGES AVAILABLE UNDER REAL PROPERTY ACTIONS AND PROCEEDINGS LAW (RPAPL) FOR THE INADVERTENT REMOVAL OF TREES FROM PLAINTIFFS’ PROPERTY BY DEFENDANTS (THIRD DEPT))/TIMBER (REAL PROPERTY ACTIONS AND PROCEEDINGS LAW, SUPREME COURT SHOULD NOT HAVE DEVIATED FROM THE STIPULATION ENTERED INTO BY THE PARTIES WHICH DESCRIBED THE DAMAGES AVAILABLE UNDER REAL PROPERTY ACTIONS AND PROCEEDINGS LAW (RPAPL) FOR THE INADVERTENT REMOVAL OF TREES FROM PLAINTIFFS’ PROPERTY BY DEFENDANTS (THIRD DEPT))/TREES (REAL PROPERTY ACTIONS AND PROCEEDINGS LAW, SUPREME COURT SHOULD NOT HAVE DEVIATED FROM THE STIPULATION ENTERED INTO BY THE PARTIES WHICH DESCRIBED THE DAMAGES AVAILABLE UNDER REAL PROPERTY ACTIONS AND PROCEEDINGS LAW (RPAPL) FOR THE INADVERTENT REMOVAL OF TREES FROM PLAINTIFFS’ PROPERTY BY DEFENDANTS (THIRD DEPT))