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Pryor Cashman achieved a substantial victory for its client, Celine Armstrong, in a decision handed down on May 15, 2007 decision by Justice Walter B. Tolub of the N.Y. State Supreme Court, N.Y. County.

Armstrong was a tenant of The Archives, a luxury residential building in Greenwich Village.  For 20 months and at all hours of the day and night, Armstrong was the victim of excessively loud music emanating from her neighbor’s apartment, music so loud that her walls would vibrate and rest and sleep became impossible. 

Armstrong’s repeated efforts to have the landlord force the neighbor to stop were unsuccessful, the landlord waiting for 19 months before it even served the neighbor with a notice to cure requiring the tenant to cure the excessive noise or have his lease terminated. Although Armstrong volunteered to move to a less desirable apartment for the same rent she was currently paying, the landlord ignored her.

Armstrong was left with no choice but to terminate her lease, move out and sue the landlord for breach of the implied warranty of habitability. Armstrong retained Pryor Cashman to commence the action and the matter was handled by partner Eric D. Sherman and associate Joshua D. Bernstein, both of Pryor Cashman's Real Estate Litigation Group.

After the landlord asserted counterclaims against Armstrong, Pryor Cashman moved for summary judgment, arguing that, as a matter of law, the landlord’s failure to serve the notice to cure until 19 months after Armstrong began complaining of the excessive noise breached the implied warranty of habitability and constituted a constructive eviction.

In his May 15, 2007 decision, Justice Tolub agreed and granted Armstrong’s motion for summary judgment: (a) on liability on her claim for breach of the warranty of habitability; (b) declaring that she was entitled to terminate her lease; and (c) dismissing the landlord’s defenses and counterclaim for attorney’s fees.

The summary judgment motion was successfully argued and briefed by Sherman and Bernstein. To read Justice Tolub’s decision in its entirety, please click here.

Pryor Cashman's victory was featured in a New York Post story on May 22, 2007 entitled "Tenant Suit A Blast - Wins Noise Case."  To read the story, please click here.