The wrongful death lawsuit, filed in San Diego Superior Court, names the city and its contracted arborists, alleging they failed to maintain a visibly decaying tree that ultimately claimed Ronan’s life. The 27-foot-long branch, roughly 17 inches in diameter and spanning 34 feet, snapped 60 feet above the ground and fell without warning on June 29, 2025.
Ronan had been playing with his father, Cathal, and 7-year-old brother, Charles, on a sunny Sunday afternoon at the park off Via Marin. “All of a sudden, I heard a crack,” Cathal recalled. “I pushed my older son and another girl out of the way and went to grab Ronan — the next thing I remember is waking up on the ground next to him.”
The branch struck both Ronan and his father. Cathal suffered a traumatic brain injury, multiple facial lacerations, broken bones, and lasting leg damage. Ronan was rushed to Rady Children’s Hospital, where he remained on life support for seven days before his parents made the painful decision to let him go. “He was my best friend,” said his mother, Dara. “There isn’t a second that goes by when I don’t think about him. I talk to him all the time.”
The lawsuit claims the eucalyptus tree was visibly unhealthy, riddled with decay, and full of “large, elongated, heavy, and improperly maintained limbs” that posed a clear hazard to any trained eye. The family’s attorney, Bibi Fell, said the tragedy underscores systemic negligence in San Diego’s tree maintenance practices. “Eucalyptus trees are not native to California and have long been known to rot and drop limbs, especially when over-irrigated in parks,” Fell said. “This particular tree showed obvious warning signs that were ignored. Parks should be safe places for families - not fatal ones.”
The legal filing cites more than 30 previous eucalyptus tree collapses in the city dating back to 1983, including a case where a 4-year-old was killed near the entrance to the San Diego Zoo, and a 2013 incident in which a pregnant woman and another person were injured by a falling tree on the UC San Diego campus. The lawsuit argues that the city’s inspection and maintenance protocols are “grossly inadequate to identify hazardous trees before they fail.”
Ronan’s father, Cathal, who worked in tech before the incident, said he lives with daily physical pain and psychological trauma. “We’re broken,” he said. “You never imagine something like this happening in a city park - a place that’s supposed to be safe for kids.”
The family is seeking financial damages and sweeping reforms to San Diego’s urban forestry management, including the removal or mitigation of dangerous eucalyptus trees in public parks and schoolyards. The suit also requests that the city make inspection records and risk assessments publicly available online.
Ronan would have turned five on December 2. His parents plan to launch a foundation in his name to raise awareness about tree safety and support other grieving families. “If we can stop one more family from enduring what we’ve been through,” Dara said softly, holding a teddy bear that plays her son’s recorded heartbeat, “it’ll be worth it. Ronan would be proud of us.”
Originally published on November 11, 2025.
