2 Investigators: City Way Behind On Tree Removal, Trimming

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(CBS) Theres a huge backlog of thousands of requests for city trees to be trimmed or removedoften because residents believe they are damaged or dead and could be dangerous.

The CBS 2 investigators learned some of those requests date back to 2011. `

Worse yet some people have been seriously injured and their cases have cost the city millions of dollars to settle lawsuits.

The case of Erick Leon highlights the apparent disconnect thats existed between complaints being filed and work getting done.

In 2010, a 200 pound decayed tree limb in Lincoln Park fell on Leons back as he bicycled back from making a restaurant delivery.

All of a sudden I heard this snap, Crack, Leon recalled.

He was left paralyzed from the waist down. His lawsuit against the city was recently settled for $5.5 million.

His attorney, Michael Goode says that at first the city said there were no complaints on file with the city prior to the day Leon was injured. Then, through discovery in the case, 16 complaints surfaced. They included several requests for tree trimming from a resident who said there were multiple dead branches on parkway trees, in front of his house on Grant Place.

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2 Investigators: City Way Behind On Tree Removal, Trimming