Be prepared that they may not be willing to take this on a contingency deal, basically you will be paying and that can be a hard go against someone big as them. The best you may be able to hope for is a few nasty letters and hope they work with you. While it seems like alot lawyers pretty much can make a good guess at what something will be worth to them. A comapny I was involved in went after a big company on a "principle based deal" and while the other company settled it was damn expensive, ie spent about 4 times in legal above the settlement. #not really winning..... legal fees were an ugly massive number. 7 digit after the decimal, 2 comma type number. This isnt nearly as complicated but..... have you considered asking them to compensate you for the time the fence is down, and maybe plant you a bunch of new trees? Maybe build you a nice new fence..... that might be a better angle to start with. You will probably be selling to them or some other developer soon anyway.

You might be able to get them to replant trees on your property, away from their retaining walls. Just think how mad you would have been if they had pruned all the trees off like the picture below and then removed the half of the root-ball on their side of the property, probably killing the trees or causing the to fall onto your side?

Be prepared that they may not be willing to take this on a contingency deal, basically you will be paying and that can be a hard go against someone big as them. The best you may be able to hope for is a few nasty letters and hope they work with you. While it seems like alot lawyers pretty much can make a good guess at what something will be worth to them. A comapny I was involved in went after a big company on a "principle based deal" and while the other company settled it was damn expensive, ie spent about 4 times in legal above the settlement. #not really winning..... legal fees were an ugly massive number. 7 digit after the decimal, 2 comma type number. This isnt nearly as complicated but..... have you considered asking them to compensate you for the time the fence is down, and maybe plant you a bunch of new trees? Maybe build you a nice new fence..... that might be a better angle to start with. You will probably be selling to them or some other developer soon anyway.

I agree with WAWI, I still cannot believe a company as large as DRH would just march in and cut trees down that do not even belong to them, that is about as dumb as a fence post.

And be clear that I'm not making a judgment on who is right or wrong or poo pooing the claim. I'm merely saying dont get your Hope's up for any real relief and know what you are getting into. I had a ring side seat for a David vs Goliath lawsuit over some iffy stuff and while technically goliath settled it damn near broke david into little bitty pieces and david was not made whole by a long shot. David would have been way, way better off taking the initial go away offer. A company like DR Horton will have more and better lawyers than you can probably afford, I'm guessing here as to your postion, any lawyer you get will know this, and they will drowned him and you in junk and time. Things like this could take years. That's a tough pill to swallow if you think or know you are right but it is what it is. I had a business law professor who walked into class and the first thing he said was the golden rule, he who has the gold rules. I'm not saying it's the truest thing I ever heard but it's a top 3 for sure.