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Tree Academy Workshops

Tree Academy Workshops

Killer Trees and Negligence
Saturday, 08 August 2015
9:00 AM — 12:00 PM
Gaylord Palms®, Tampa
A, M, Bm
Trees and litigation have become a significantly critical component of our industry. There are no longer accidents; only negligence, and how to manage the crisis in the after situation of being named as a litigant. This presentation will explore how to best avoid being named as a litigant in the first place by examining the concepts and applications of tree law and the misconception regarding perceived tree risk assessment of the discrepancies and significant gaps in knowledge that exist at each level of biology, standards and assessment/maintenance.

Presenter Information

    • Christopher J Luley, Ph.D.
      Christopher J. Luley, Ph.D. joined Urban Forestry LLC in the fall of 2004. Prior to joining Urban Forestry, Dr. Luley was a technical advisor and urban forestry consultant for 14 years with two major northeast tree care and consulting companies. He also was State Forest Pathologist for Missouri and managed the Plant Diagnostic Clinic for Iowa State University. His graduate degrees are in forest pathology from SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry at Syracuse and Iowa State University. He specializes in urban forest and pest management, and diagnosis of wood decay in urban trees. 

      Dr. Luley has over 50 technical publications on urban tree topics and three books in publication, one on the decay fungi common to urban living trees in the Northeast and Central United State, a second on pest management in the landscape, and a third on pruning young and small urban trees.
      Urban Forestry LLC- Naples, Naples, New York, United States
    • Joe R Samnik
      Joe is entering his 47th year of practice limited to tree and landscape consulting and the dispute resolution process.
      He received the Edward W. Bok award for recognition of lifetime achievement in the excellence of arboriculture.
      Joe was the founding president of the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA), Florida Chapter and sat on the Board of Directors for six years as the Consultant’s Representative and Education Chair. He is also a past president of the Association of Eminent Domain Professionals (AEDP), and their current president. Joe is licensed through the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to prescribe and treat pests on trees and landscapes. He has been issued a provider number by the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, State of Florida. He has presented at over 90 International, and state conferences.

      His abstracts on tree assessments were selected for presentation at five (5) International Tree Conferences. His formula for appraising the value of roadside vegetation was included in Rule Chapter 14-40 of the Florida Highway Beautification Act.
      Joe is a recognized expert witness in small claims, civil, criminal, eminent domain and federal courts of law. He has been involved as an expert in over 700 litigation assignments.

      SAMNIK&BALLARD, LLC, Palm Harbor, FLORI, United States
    • Theadore Karatinos, ESQ.
      Ted Karatinos is a managing member of the law firm of Holliday Karatinos Law Firm with offices in Brooksville and Lutz Florida.   Mr. Karatinos litigates cases primarily in the areas of personal injury and insurance law.   In the appellate arena, he has procured favorable reported decisions in the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit; the Florida Supreme Court; the Second District Court of Appeal; and the Fifth District Court of Appeal.   He is a lifetime member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum.   Among other publications, Mr. Karatinos has authored nationally in Barrister Magazine, The Young Lawyer, The Federal Lawyer, and The Florida Bar Journal.   He has also taught Federal Civil Pretrial Practice at the Stetson University College of Law since 2002.

      Holliday,Bomhoff & Karatinos,PL, Lutz, Florida, United States