The defendant, a crop farmer owned land adjacent to the plaintiff's 5.5 acre parcel that contained brush, scrub trees and overgrown volunteer trees. The defendant hired a contractor to clean the fence line because the plaintiff's trees and brush were shading his crops. The defendant incorrectly assumed that a creek bed on the neighbor's side of the fence served as the border between the properties, but the actual border was the crop line. The contractor removed trees from the creek bed and the plaintiff sued claiming over $30,000 in damages for the removal of 50 small trees and six mature trees. The trial court awarded the damages based on replacement cost of the trees and the defendant appealed. On appeal, the court noted the theories of recovery for tree loss: (1) for trees serving a special purpose, the damages are the difference between the value of the real estate before and after the destruction of the trees; (2) for trees not serving any special purpose, the damages are the commercial market value of the trees as lumber or other wood products; and (3) for trees that can be replaced (or when they have special value to the owner), the replacement cost of the trees. In addition, the court noted that Iowa Code Sec. 658.4 allows for treble damages for the willful injury to trees or shrubs. The appellate court used the replacement cost approach for the small trees because the plaintiff's were tree lovers, but did not award damages for the mature trees because the evidence did not show that they needed to be replaced. Treble damages were not allowed because the defendant made an honest mistake about the property boundary. Survey costs were also disallowed along with attorney's fees. Lackman v. Muff, No. 14-1150, 2015 Iowa App. LEXIS 373 (Iowa Ct. App. Apr. 22, 2015).