Valdez

FACTS

Roque Valdez worked weekends as a landscaper and tree trimmer. He was not licensed. Nevertheless, he trimmed many trees over the course of some 20 years, including large ones like palm trees, according to his family. On April 18, 2011, a branch fell from a tall ash tree on the property of defendants Wei Lu and Jin Xiang in Duarte (the Lu property). A neighbor introduced Valdez as a tree trimmer to Xiang and her son Andy Guang Y. Lu. Valdez returned later to the Lu property with his associate, Luis Alfonso Contreras, who gave an estimate for trimming the tree. Contreras proffered a business card and said that he and Valdez had over 10 years of tree trimming experience. When he came to the Lu property with Valdez to estimate the tree trimming job, Contreras saw electrical poles and lines along the street. They recognized the danger, so “we looked at the tree and we looked at the utility [ ] lines.” The tree was in the middle of the yard, “a little bit higher” than the electrical lines. Its trunk was about 30 feet from the lines, and Contreras gauged the closest limb to be 10 to 15 feet from the lines. Contreras and Valdez were undisputedly aware that the tree limbs were…