Common sense says the wood belongs to the person willing to clean it up. 
A 'cane is an Act of God, but a 40 mph wind is not a 'cane. Moreover, the OP said that the tree was “ripe to fall.” And a 40 mph wind would not blow down a healthy tree. A limb or two but not a whole tree.
I work in property management in New Jersey, and this has happened several times. The person whose tree fell is responsible, but their homeowner’s insurance will usually cover it. Particularly for “acts of nature,” which is what insurance is for.
Thanks for the replies. The reason I was particularly annoyed was because I knew the tree was due to fall for the last 3 years and asked him to consider taking it down because the most likely place for it to fall was on my garage. He was kind of a tool and said it wasn’t his problem and I assured him (on a bluff) that it was. He eventually marked the tree to be cut down with white "X"s so the evidence is right there on the trunk of the tree. I wasn’t planning on getting all litigious on him, I just wanted to know the law.
"that the tree was “ripe to fall.”
Just what does that mean & how would you know? Round about these parts you call the city forester who comes out takes a look at your tree, cuts a hole in it if necessary to check the rot, writes a report & then you get/don’t get a permit to cut it down.
I don’t know of any tree that’s not “ripe to fall” in 70mph winds.
Douglas fir does fine in 70 mph winds in Seattle (granted, they are not sustained, nor are they circular–the winds, that is. The trees are more or less circular depending on how you look at 'em).
>>Matchka examines his 80 year old death ray, twirls it on trigger finger & slaps it into the holster with a nod & wink<<
Live oaks have no problem in 70 mph winds. Heck, they’ve been thru countless of thems. In Hugo there was no healthy live oak uprooted, but most of the imported pines were. Sure, there was a limb or two down, but the tree was not uprooted.
I’ve already said we didn’t get hit with anything too bad and that this tree falling was probably the worse thing to happen in a 40 mile radius. We didn’t even have hurricane winds - just heavy winds, gale or whatever. My father was the one who said it was “ripe to fall” and given the forest around around house and this being the only tree he said that about, he clearly knew something.
KidCharlemagne, by comparsion my lot is only 30’ wide, so 150’ would be 5 lots, so that must be one big tree. Sometimes you can call a firewood company & they come and get the wood for free. Oak is worth alot of dough as firewood, so maybe they even pay for it.