After a giant pine cone fell on Sean Mace, 50, he filed a lawsuit for more than $5 million. While this lawsuit may sound ridiculous, the pine cone weighed more than 16 pounds, and caused a severe brain injury for the man. The pine cone fell from an Araucaria bidwillii, which is a tree that is native to Australia. This tree is better known as the false monkey puzzle tree. At their largest size, these pine cones can reach up to 16 inches in width, and they can weigh more than 40 pounds. As you can imagine, this can create quite a situation. There are pictures of Araucaria bidwillii pine cones getting larger than someone's head. No wonder they could cause brain damage when falling. Mace read a book under the tree when a 16-pound pine cone dropped …show more content…
It can change someone's life if they were struck underneath the pine trees. Since the event, however, they have placed orange fences and warning signs about people sitting under the trees. Mace is a US Navy veteran who had served during the 1980s. Mace had been visiting the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park on October 12th, 2014, for a Blue Angels air show. Little did he know that a pine cone would be the cause of changing his entire life. Because of the accident, Mace experiences post-traumatic stress disorder. He fears going outside because he does not want to be hit on the head again. Before the incident, Mace had been doing well in life. Since the pine cone accident, he has been dependent on the system, and it is likely that there will be that need for the remainder of his life. Mace hopes that because of his own tragic accident that awareness will be brought to the danger of the Araucaria bidwillii trees. With changes to policy, hopefully others will not have to suffer as a result of these trees. The biggest concern is that this could happen to tourists or school children. The area sees a great deal of tourists, which can become a real concern when they are not familiar with the