[RobFrost]

In UK law, which I am sure is not applicable here, although there may easily be an equivalent US law, one can be liable for damage caused by the roots of one's tree to a neighbour's property, by the law of "nuisance".

You are required to pay the cost of abating the nuisance and all remedial works, although the defence is available to you that the injured party had sufficient control over the tree to abate the nuisance themselves, such as by e.g. cutting back the roots or building their pool in such a way as to be immune to the roots, in which case they might be jointly liable with you for their own losses.

They would mormally have to provide an arboriculturist's report proving the nuisance was caused by your tree and a surveyor's report quantifying the damage, although if they won their claim, you would probably be liable for the costs of these reports.

It is important, therefore, if you do not wish to pay, that you do not do anything which might reasonably be construed as accepting that your tree caused the damage.

If the trees are now gone they may not even be able to prove that there were any trees at all, so you might not even want to admit this fact. It sounds like at this moment you do not even know that they did not have trees themselves which could have caused the damage, so if they pressed for damages I would probably start by asking them to prove that they did not have any of their own trees or roots over the entire period the pool was there. That might be difficult for them to do.

It would also be important whether the trees and roots were already there before they installed the pool, in which case the liability could be upon them for not abating the roots or building the pool to be immune from damage, or notifying you at the time of the problem, when a reasonable person would have foreseen the issue.

If your parents have not yet paid for the fence I would withhold that money, even if they feel it would be fair to pay that. As it is conceivable they may end up liable for pool costs but not be liable for the fence.

If it were me I would aim to agree verbally with the neighbour what the sum was to be and once agreed I'd get a solicitor to draft a letter for the neighbour to sign, stating that no liability is accepted and that the sum will be the entire settlement and no further monies due in respect of the matter. As part of the verbal discussion, I'd inform them that the letter would follow, just so we all know where we stand and make sure they agree to it, on the grounds that it "protects both parties" and "makes sure there's no misunderstanding". Only then would I make any payment. You'd also need to be sure the person signing was the only possible claimant.

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