LUTZ - Suddenly, the tall wall of green was gone.

Helen Conigliaro came home, looked toward her back yard and was stunned by the change. A laurel oak towering 65 feet had disappeared in a day. All that remained was a low stump and a small pile of firewood.

"What happened?" she asked in a phone call to her husband, Mike. "You can see all the way to (U.S.) 41."

What happened was a sequence of communications breakdowns. They culminated a year ago in the illegal removal of the Conigliaros' oak, and this year, in a package of lawsuits.

The Conigliaros, who want another tree to match the former one, are suing:

n The Crystal Lakes Manors Homeowners' Association, which blamed the tree's roots for damaging a nearby wall.

n Independent Tree Service, which cut down the oak.

n University Properties, the association's property management company, accused of hiring the tree service.

In turn, the homeowners association has sued the tree service. And the tree service has sued University Properties and the homeowners association.

"It's an unfortunate situation all the way around," said Sharon Espinola, who was homeowners president in Crystal Lakes Manors last year.

The controversy already has been judged, in one sense. Hillsborough County's Code Enforcement Board in December found every party except the Conigliaros guilty of violating a tree-protection ordinance. As a penalty, the tree service planted six small pines and eight small oaks in Lake Rogers Park, a county park in Keystone. An alternative would have been a fine of $2,430.

Jerry Upcavage, president of the tree service, also offered to plant two young oaks in the Conigliaros' yard, but Mike Conigliaro rejected that.

"I don't want to wait 25 years for something to grow," Conigliaro said.

He acknowledges a full-size tree could cost $80,000 to $100,000.

It was Conigliaro, 45, who unwittingly set the whole mess in motion.

His house sits just beyond a 90-degree curve of Crystal Grove Boulevard, the entrance road into Crystal Lakes Manors. 

The Conigliaro home is separated from the curve by a perimeter wall owned by the homeowners association. A year ago, the family was noticing that car headlights blinked through cracks in the wall's mortar. Conigliaro asked the association to take a look.

The association concluded the cracks were caused by "root uplift" from a nearby tree. It notified Helen Conigliaro in an e-mail that Independent planned to remove a diseased tree that was outside the wall. That was fine with the Conigliaros.

But the tree service applied for a county permit to cut down the Conigliaros' laurel oak.

May 1 of last year, county natural resource inspectors denied the permit. They said the oak was relatively healthy and wasn't necessarily damaging the wall.

Following policy, they hung the notice on the door of the property owner, the Conigliaros. They didn't notify the permit applicant, the tree service.

"We've never had a situation where one party didn't know about the other party," said Christa Hull, a county environmental scientist who worked on the case.

The Conigliaros didn't know until they found the door hanger. Helen Conigliaro promptly called Espinola. Espinola was leaving town. She understood that her contact at University Properties, Sandy Rae, was out of town but heading back. Espinola sent Rae a letter. Actually, Rae's trip lasted longer, Espinola said.

May 6, Independent cut down the tree.

"Who would have thought that the tree would be removed without a permit?" Espinola said.

Upcavage could not be reached for comment about that.

"He was under the impression it (the permit application) wouldn't be denied," the county's Hull said.

Hillsborough County is now out of the case, given the new trees in the park. But Hull said the county has decided, because of the Conigliaros' oak, to notify both the applicant and property owner when tree permits are denied.

A key question in the lawsuit will be who, if anyone, hired Independent to cut down the oak.

In its countersuit, Independent says it "was hired by Crystal Lakes Manors Homeowners Association and/or University Properties."

Not the homeowners association, said Ronald Cotterill, the association's attorney. He said the association's board simply turned the wall problem over to University Properties.

"They said, "Here's the problem. Please solve it. Let us know what it's going to cost,' " Cotterill said.

"I'm comfortable that no member of my clients' board of directors said, "Come heck or high water, go chop down that tree.' "

James Young, president of University Properties, wouldn't comment on the question.

"I feel we have no responsibility for what happened, and I feel very good about our position," he said.

Earlier this year, the standoff gained some unexpected relief. A young driver missed the curve on Crystal Grove and clobbered the wall - right in the Conigliaros' problem spot. The motorist's insurance paid for a full repair.

Excavations by the wall-replacement crew allowed neighbors to peer into the ground to see whether roots indeed had pushed up the wall. But even then, they disagreed.

Cotterill said root uplift was confirmed.

Conigliaro took photos. They show that a fat root had reached the footing of the wall, then did what the young driver should have done. It took a slow, sharp left.