Client wants to sue over weeds in plant bed?

I thought about that last sentence, and was incorrect.

If they feel differently, then walk away and let them decide on their own if they want to move forward with a lawsuit.

Every once in a while, a client turns into a toad. 

You CYA’d on this project, and because there is no HSW issue, it’s highly doubtful that you will be held liable in any way.  Avoid communication beyond a response that maintenance is the owner’s responsibility.

Not to belabor the point, but the problem is that anybody can sue you for anything.  If and when a subpoena ever arrives, let us know what happened.  It will be a good teaching point.

I guess these days you have to add a disclaimer to everything. I mean, who would have thought coffee could be hot or cigarettes may give you cancer? I just can’t believe weeds could possibly be growing in Tennessee.

I wouldn’t lose any sleep over this one, unless the client can prove that the weeds belong to you or something. Its common knowledge that planting beds need to be weeded whether or not you use a pre-emergent, weed barrier or a foot of mulch. There are dormant weed seeds in the soil, blowing through the air and bombarding the earth in bird droppings.

I had a client threaten to sue me when I was in design/build. We installed front and rear yard plantings and a bluestone terrace at his home during one of the most damp and rainy springs in decades. This guy threw a tantrum because he had vomit fungus and toadstools popping up all over the place on his property. He insisted that we brought them in with our mulch and topsoil. I told him that there is a possibility that we may have brought some spores in, but because of the weather all kinds of fungi are going nuts. And the fact that his developer/builder buried all kinds of stumps and brush through out the community vomit fungus and toadstools will probably be a problem for a long time.

Your case is just like mine. How do you prove how the weeds or fungus spores establish themselves on a property? It’s nature.

Alan’s client is an idiot and there’s nothing you can do when a person like that comes up with some BS that goes against decades (maybe even centuries) of common gardening knowledge. If I’m going to worry, it will be about something like me under sizing a drainage system or making a bad materials selection. If one of my clients threatened to sue me over weeds, I’d smile and calmly walk away from the crazy bastard.