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Neighbor Noise Disturbance

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toxicgoober

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Louisiana

About a year ago my fiance and I moved into a new apartment that had been vacant for nearly 4 years. The neighbor above us was immediately loud. Apparently he thought because he had received no complaints before that his form of living was acceptable. He would play his TV and his guitar loudly and into the night; sometimes it would be for the entire day as well. He also was constantly thumping around. I have no idea if the thumping noise came from his 80 lb dog, him bumping into walls (he is a large man), or from him actually dropping objects on the floor. I spoke to him about the issue 4 times, each time accompanied by a very short period of acceptable behavior, and then accompanied by him resuming his previous behavior. On the 4th instance he was supposedly on cold medicine and cursed me out. A few days later he put a note on my door apologizing for his actions and also leaving a $60 gift card t a local steak house. I think he was worried I would report him to the police and hoped to smooth things over. He was quiet for nearly a month and a half and then began to get louder again. It went on for a few months and I finally reported the incidence to my landlord, who called his landlord. He would get quiet for a week and then return to his normal behavior, at which point we would call his landlord again, and so on. He quit with the guitar and TV, but he would still bang around for hours on end doing god only knows what. This repeated itself for nearly 3 months until my landlord decided to speak to him directly, telling him that the police would be contacted if the issue persisted. After a couple of weeks he went back to his usual behavior again. We called the police. He got worse. He came home the other day and began banging around worse than ever. He walked down the steps to take his dog out and I opened the door to say I would call the police if he persisted. He proceeded to act stupid as if he had no idea what he was doing. I closed the door and returned to my life. Today my landlord tells me that his landlord called her claiming that he was considering filing a harassment lawsuit because he found my tone threatening. I never once left my doorstep and I never once threatened anything but calling the police if his loudness persisted. There were no other witnesses besides my wife to testify in his favor. Does he honestly have any case whatsoever or is this just a bluff to get me off of his back? I understand normal apartment noise; this is not that. Can he honestly sue me for complaining about his unnecessarily, exceedingly loud behavior and not just letting him do what he wants? Thanks for any help you may be able to provide.
 


Can he sue? Yep. Will he prevail ? who knows from your post it sounds doubtful. Next time he gets loud call the police and every time from then on. He will either quiet down, move out or get arrested. At least you will have official documentation of his behavior.Good luck, these kind of issues are very stressfull.
 

Antigone*

Senior Member
My suggestion to you is to just call the police when he gets loud. Avoid him at all costs. The previous poster is correct ~ he can sue you, doesn't mean he will.
 

toxicgoober

Junior Member
Thanks to both of you for your replies. I was of the same opinion, but knowing that others agree helps to solidify my resolve. We have tried calling his landlord, the manager of the neighborhood, the police, and the neighbor himself for months now. It seems to me that if he tried a lawsuit now without ample proof that I approached him in person it would merely seem like a pathetic attempt to counter my complaints. I can't imagine that a judge would be ignorant enough to overlook that point unless, like I said, I got up in his face or something, which I did not. I honestly think there is no disease or illness that nature can throw at you that remotely compares to having to directly deal with people of this caliber; they are the types that making living miserable.
 

HuAi

Member
Can he sue? Yep. Will he prevail ? who knows from your post it sounds doubtful. Next time he gets loud call the police and every time from then on. He will either quiet down, move out or get arrested. At least you will have official documentation of his behavior.Good luck, these kind of issues are very stressfull.
Or police will ignore your calls after a while.
 

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