Pryor Cashman Wins Trial Victory on Behalf of Tenant Victimized by Loud Music
Pryor Cashman achieved a substantial victory for its client, Celine Armstrong, in a decision handed down on June 9, 2009 after a bench trial before 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.
At trial, Pryor Cashman argued that 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. Armstrong prevailed at trial and was awarded a significant abatement of rent and attorneys' fees.
