Detroit man warned city about tree before it fell on his home. Now it won't pay for damages

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"The city does not have any liability we are not legally responsible for paying with the damage caused by that falling tree," said attorney Lawrence Garcia, city of Detroit.

Kelvin McCray feels like he's on an emotional roller coaster. Last August a tree toppled onto his home. It was the same tree he says he notified the city about, months prior.

"They failed to move on it and then six months later, the tree fell and severely damaged my roof (and) took out the front porch," McCray said.

McCray contacted the city to remove the tree and says he got nowhere - so he called the Fox 2 Problem Solvers for help.

"Just so happens at the same time you guys showed up, they showed up and removed the tree," McCray said.

But that wasn't the end of McCray's concerns. The tree caused thousands in damages to his home and he says he could not afford both auto and homeowners insurance. 

Since he chose auto, he filed a claim with the city's law department to pay for his home to be repaired.

"Two or three weeks after I delivered this information to them, they denied it," McCray said.

Not giving up, McCray appealed that decision. 

"The Auditor General in turn agreed that the city was negligent, they are responsible for the damages my house incurred," he said. 

McCray says he only requested money for the exterior damages caused by the tree but inside there are extensive damages as well. 

 outside of his home but walk inside and there's damages also from water. He said it will cost nearly $40,000 to fix the outside but he will take care off the inside work on his own.

So Fox 2 went to the city for some answers.

"The city can't afford to just pick winners and losers and give away money to people when they are not required by law to do so," said attorney Lawrence Garcia, city of Detroit.

The city is claiming governmental immunity, but McCray says they can't - because they were notified about the tree prior to the incident.

"I disagree with him about that, I think I know the law and it makes no difference whether the city had notice or not," Garcia said.

Attorney Garcia says the city is contesting the Auditor General's decision in this case.
As for McCray, he says he will not give up his fight.

"Mayor I need help," McCray said. "Do what you said you said you were going to do for us, you were going to make sure the citizens are taken care of."