> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# SM couple to receive $1M in ‘Widow Maker’ case
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/see-bookstore-page-7-sm-couple-to-receive-1m-in-widow-maker-case/
- Published: 2003-02-28T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T01:40:37.000Z
- Author: John Wood
- Tags: Government & Politics, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*Lawsuit centered around city’s responsibility for tree*

A local couple who were struck by a rotting eucalyptus tree while in their car will receive more than $1 million from the City of Santa Monica.

Jurors awarded Jim and Joan Holiday the money in September, but their case was tied up in an appeal filed by the city until this week.

In a closed session Tuesday, Santa Monica City Council members agreed to drop the appeal and settle the lawsuit for $1,030,000 — just $20,000 less than the original judgment.

“There had been a jury verdict,” said Mayor Richard Bloom. “In our discussions with the city attorney, it became clear (settling the case) was the right thing to do under the circumstances.”

The Holidays were struck by one of the city’s mature, red-flowering eucalyptus trees while driving down Broadway in January of 2001\. Jim Holiday suffered a compression fracture to a vertebra in his back. Lawyers said the collision also exacerbated existing problems with his lower back and neck.

Holiday, who operated a maintenance company and worked part-time for a homeowners’ association, now lives with constant pain and will not work again, lawyers said.

At issue in the case was whether the city should have known that one of its eucalyptus trees had rotting roots because of heavy rain.

The Holidays’ attorney Robert Wolfe said the city should have enlarged the tree’s well. Because it didn’t, the tree was “constricted” by the concrete, limiting the flow of nutrients and causing roots to decay, Wolfe said.

“The city basically said, ‘We’re not gonna do anything. We’re gonna stick our heads in the sand,’” Wolfe said. “Which I wish they had — they would have seen there were no roots.

“All (the inspector) had to do was poke around the tree. He would have found advanced decay.”

But Deputy City Attorney Norman Hirata said inspectors did all they could, short of uprooting the sidewalk, to examine the tree’s roots.

Hirata said that excessive rainfall in January 2001 saturated the soil, and the heavy rains added more weight to a tree already weighing several tons.

“The City of Santa Monica cannot be blamed for rainfall,” Hirata said. “Rain is not public property in the City of Santa Monica.

“No one could know that there was underground, unseen root decay. No one could know except Mother Nature.”

The eucalyptus is sometimes called “The Widow Maker,” because it often drops limbs unexpectedly. Several groups are pushing for more aggressive action by cities to remove the non-native species.

The Holiday’s case was heard once before, but the trial ended in a hung jury.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 28, 2003.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/022803.pdf?ref=smdp.com)