Claudia Schiffer tries to reach out-of-court settlement over tree row with multi-millionaire neighbour in Majorca - to avoid 'embarrassing' quiz by judge

• e-mail

Model Claudia Schiffer is trying to reach an out-of-court agreement with her multi-millionaire neighbour over a tree row to avoid an embarrassing quiz by a judge.

Ms Schiffer and Willi Weber, ex-manager of F1 racing driver Michael Schumacher, have asked a court in Majorca, Spain to suspend a criminal investigation for a month so they can try to make peace.

Details of the extraordinary court probe emerged in July after Weber lodged a lawsuit against the German beauty alleging she and her British film producer husband Matthew Vaughn were responsible for the disappearance of two pine trees at his holiday property in Camp de Mar, Andratx.

Model Claudia Schiffer (right) is trying to reach an out-of-court agreement with her multi-millionaire neighbour Willi Weber (left) over a tree row to avoid an embarrassing quiz by a judge

Pictured is what is believed to be Claudia Schiffer's mansion in the resort of Camp de Mar, Majorca

He claimed a specialist hired by the couple trespassed on his land after ignoring a warning to leave the trees alone and took them away with him after using a chainsaw to chop them down.

Respected island daily Diario de Mallorca reported at the time the couple's staff gardener had already been quizzed by a judge heading an ongoing investigation and Schiffer and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels producer Vaughn could end up in front of a judge.

The warring neighbours are understood to have filed a joint request through their respective lawyers to Palma's Court of Investigation Number Eight, the court leading the probe, requesting a month's grace to reach an out-of-court settlement.

Prosecutors have already been informed of the development.

Colourful Weber, who has criticised Schiffer and her husband in the German press, is expected to demand cash compensation to withdraw his lawsuit.

Ms Schiffer and Willi Weber, ex-manager of F1 racing driver Michael Schumacher, have asked a court in Majorca, Spain to suspend a criminal investigation for a month so they can try to make peace. Schiffer's house is believed to be pictured top

The German, who in the past has represented 46-year-old Ms Schiffer through his Stuttgart-based management firm, has valued the two 30ft pines he says were cut off behind his bedroom at £27,000.

Mr Weber claimed in legal papers filed with the investigating court that the two trees on his land were chopped down in July last year.

Ms Schiffer's gardener reportedly told a judge during questioning on an unidentified date that he got a specialist in to do the job after the model told him to cut a pine tree on her land down.

The specialist, who has also given evidence, is said to have admitted chopping down the two pine trees at the centre of the dispute because they were ridden with disease 'after Schiffer's husband pointed them out to them from a distance.'

Mr Weber says the disappearance of the trees deprived him of shade and reportedly claimed he believes Ms Schiffer and her husband acted the way they did because they wanted to improve their sea view so they could increase the sale price of their property.

Details of the extraordinary court probe emerged in July after Weber lodged a lawsuit against the German beauty alleging she and her British film producer husband Matthew Vaughn were responsible for the disappearance of two pine trees at his holiday property in Camp de Mar, Andratx

Weber is the manager of German racing drivers and famously worked with Michael Schumacher and his brother Ralf Schumacher

The Palma court launched an investigation into allegations of trespass, misappropriation and a crime against the environment, although a spokesman for the local council in Andratx confirmed soon after that if the trees were not on rustic land a maximum of two could be chopped down without the need for a licence.

Court officials in Majorca confirmed in July Ms Schiffer was facing a court summons as an 'investigada' - a new legal term now used in Spain to define those who are being formally investigated but haven't been charged with any crime. 

Speaking of his lawsuit against Ms Schiffer, Mr Weber, 74, told a German newspaper earlier this year he had received an apology from her husband.

Insisting the 30ft pines were 'cut off behind his bedroom', he claimed: 'Matthew Vaughn apologised to me and said what had happened was an accident and they thought the trees were on their plot.'

Mr Weber also told Bild am Sonntag he planned to build a high wall between his home and his neighbour's and bill them for the cost after what happened, warning: 'Otherwise I will plant so many trees that they can only smell the sea.' 

MailOnline has requested a comment from Claudia Schiffer.