As an actor, Chris Pine has quite a lot of range — but the apple still doesn't fall far. As TMZ reports, he's entangled in the branches of a legal battle with his Hollywood Hills neighbour.
Helen Yu has sued the star for alleged destruction of property due to Pine's trees. Apparently, he has at least a dozen Ficus benjaminas planted at the border of his own home and the plants, infamous for their unwieldy mazes of roots, have started to spread and encroach onto Yu's property. She even went so far as to claim that the trees have uprooted a sizeable portion of the concrete hardscape of her own home.
In the court documents obtained by TMZ, Yu revealed that she had previously sued Pine in 2022, but they quickly went into mediation. Working things out behind closed doors hasn't exactly been going well, though; Yu said that, although Pine had initially seemed willing to settle the lawsuit privately, he cast his own stone by alleging that her fence was too close to his side of the property line.
Yu is now seeking upward of $346,000 USD — way above what she originally asked for — to cover the cost of repairing all of the damages to her home and yard that she claimed to have incurred, as well as an extra $225,000 for the infliction of emotional distress.
It looks like the actor might have to head Into the Woods again.