William H. Macy is fighting back in court after he was sued for allegedly cutting down trees on his neighbors property.
Macy, 73, is being sued for $600,000 by his neighbor Pierce Brown for the landscaping, which he claims happened without his knowledge or consent.
Attorneys for Brown said in court documents: ‘Macy’s workers … destroyed and removed or seriously damaged several healthy, decades-old mature pine trees and other vegetation from the Brown Property.’
Brown’s filing additionally claimed that Macy had ‘knowingly and intentionally’ instructed his workers to remove the trees.
In court documents submitted on May 31 that were obtained by People, the actor’s legal team wrote that he ‘denies, generally and specifically, each and every allegation’ of misconduct.
Fighting back: William H. Macy, 73, said he ‘denies, generally and specifically, each and every allegation’ of misconduct made in his neighbor’s $600K lawsuit alleging that he cut down trees on the neighbor’s property without his consent; seen May 24 in LA
Macy is requesting that the lawsuit be dismissed with prejudice, meaning that it cannot be refiled at a later date.
His team adds that Brown was ‘careless, reckless, and negligent in and about the matters and things alleged.’
The Boogie Nights actor’s documents claim that the actions he took were ‘committed due to an immediate and imperative necessity… to protect persons from death or serious bodily injury or to protect land or chattel from destruction or injury.’
It’s unclear if the statement is an admission that Macy’s workers did knowingly cut down the trees, but he appears to be defending those actions as a safety matter if so.
However, Brown’s initial filing claimed that Macy had admitted to him that he had allowed the workers to cut the trees down on his property.
In addition to suing the film and television actor for having the trees cut down, Brown also claimed that the workers had damaged the gate to his property when they allegedly opened it without his consent.
He has claimed that the trees in question ‘were located well inside of the Brown Property line,’ suggesting that their removal could not have been an accidental issue caused by unclear property lines.
He also alleged ‘damage to and destabilization’ of the hillside where the trees were located.
Brown’s lawsuit claims he suffered ‘loss of property value, loss of use and enjoyment of his property, a loss of privacy, an increase in noise, as well as emotional distress, irritation, annoyance, and discomfort.’
He noted in his filing that he was out of town when the trees were removed, and he said that the Shameless star ‘came to Brown’s door to discuss the condition of Brown’s hillside’ the following month, though it’s unclear if he was aware of the alteration and the alleged damage prior to Macy speaking to him about the work.
This is the latest legal trouble for Macy’s family, after his wife Felicity Huffman, 60, went to prison for her role in the 2019 college admissions scandal.
His reasons: Macy seemed to admit ordering workers to remove the trees, but says it was to ‘protect persons from death or serious bodily injury.’ He’s asking for the lawsuit to be thrown out; seen in 2019 in Seattle
More troubles: This is the latest legal trouble for Macy’s family, after his wife Felicity Huffman, 60, went to prison for her role in the 2019 college admissions scandal; seen in 2019
The actress — who shares daughters Sophia, 22, and Georgia, 21, with her husband — pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud for paying $15,000 to have someone take the SAT in place of her daughter Sophia to achieve a better score.
She was sentenced to 14 days in prison and a year of supervised release, and she was ordered to pay a $30,000 fine and to perform 250 hours of community service.
She was ultimately released after only 12 days.
No charges were ever filed against her husband as part of the scandal.
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