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Psychological torture from neighbor. HELP!!

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Artemiz

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

My question I feel is a fairly simple one, but has a ton of background knowledge that is unquestionably relevant; I will try to include as much necessary information possible.

Question: On what grounds can I take a neighbor to small claims court for being psychologically abusive and otherwise unruly in general?

Most important points;

1) My girlfriend, her sister, and I - all college student - inhabit a small fifth-floor apartment in Manhattan.

2) Our neighbor is actually the resident that lives directly below us and has complained about noise levels coming from our apartment for quite some time now. His complaints include, but are not limited to:

a) a suitcase rolling across our floor at 10 pm - which was one of us returning home from a trip.

b) loud footsteps in the morning that apparently was disrupting his daughters studying time - it was 10:45 am on a Friday.

c) talking in the hallway at a reasonable* decibel as we ascend the five-floors to our apartment - he lives on the fourth floor.

d) Smelling heavy Marijuana smoke that makes him uneasy because his "daughter is a minor."

e) After some plumbing of ours began to malfunction - which incidentally lead to some muck hitting him on the head - he claims that we had the muck hit him intentionally.

f) He once emphatically complained about noise coming from our apartment when we weren't home - and have the bus tickets to prove it.

I would like to mention that - as college students - we do have company over from time to time and sometimes we do have to remind our guests (usually of no more than two - three people )to be quiet. However, his most vocal complaints have nothing to do with these times.

3) His responses consist of:

a) Running up to our apartment, banging on the door and retreating back to his apartment before we have a chance to open the door.

b) Turning his speakers around in his ceiling to orient towards our apartment, crank them to maximum volume, and leave for over thirty-six hours while the music blared into our apartment ( he has another residence in NJ he stays at primarily ). We called the police a total of seven times when this happened but they could not do anything about the music until he returned and when he did he was incredibly uncooperative and very inebriated.

c) We have been verbally assaulted by him and his family for walking around our apartment at 10:50 am on a Friday.

As it pertains to my original question, my girlfriend - who admittedly is an emotionally delicate person in general - has developed a complex about any noise coming from our apartment - including, but not limited to: The television volume, when it is only barilly audible from our couch, ten ft away; running the sink water to long because he might hear it; locking our door too abruptly because the sound of the lock could disturb him, etc. On numerous occasions she has spoken to her psychologist about the extent to which his reactions disturb not only her, but our entire apartment's standard of living.

We have proof of:

- Not being present during one of this complaints

- Police reports of the incident with the incessant noise.

- Attempts on our part to ameliorate the situation completely by offering our phone numbers to him so he can call us or text us to let us know when we are making noise. We sent him an email stating such with our building management as co-recipients.

- Making complaints about not only the suitcase, but also his complaining about footsteps at 10:50 am on a Friday.

He has zero proof of there being issues with Marijuana smoke coming from our apartment.

We have legitimate concerns for his sanity in general. While almost every single complaint of his appears to lack reason entirely, the most noteworthy example of this is when the muck from our sink hit him on the head, he left his apartment - still covered in the muck - and took a bus immediately to our building's management company to show them in-person what we did to him "intentionally." Off the record, the CEO of our management company has said that our neighbor is clearly a very mentally ill man.

Do we have a case here to sue him in small claims court using psychological distress as our motive behind doing such?

If so, while being financially compensated is something we are not interested in - as much as making a point and finally putting an end to his Bull Shxt - what would a reasonable amount be to ask for without seeming avaricious but also without letting him "get off easy" should a judgement be ruled in our favor?

For something like this, would it be better to represent ourselves in small claims court, or to get a lawyer? Would a lawyer accept a contingent fee for something like this?

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and I look forward to any responses that may come of this.
 


Proserpina

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

My question I feel is a fairly simple one, but has a ton of background knowledge that is unquestionably relevant; I will try to include as much necessary information possible.

Question: On what grounds can I take a neighbor to small claims court for being psychologically abusive and otherwise unruly in general?

Most important points;

1) My girlfriend, her sister, and I - all college student - inhabit a small fifth-floor apartment in Manhattan.

2) Our neighbor is actually the resident that lives directly below us and has complained about noise levels coming from our apartment for quite some time now. His complaints include, but are not limited to:

a) a suitcase rolling across our floor at 10 pm - which was one of us returning home from a trip.

b) loud footsteps in the morning that apparently was disrupting his daughters studying time - it was 10:45 am on a Friday.

c) talking in the hallway at a reasonable* decibel as we ascend the five-floors to our apartment - he lives on the fourth floor.

d) Smelling heavy Marijuana smoke that makes him uneasy because his "daughter is a minor."

e) After some plumbing of ours began to malfunction - which incidentally lead to some muck hitting him on the head - he claims that we had the muck hit him intentionally.

f) He once emphatically complained about noise coming from our apartment when we weren't home - and have the bus tickets to prove it.

I would like to mention that - as college students - we do have company over from time to time and sometimes we do have to remind our guests (usually of no more than two - three people )to be quiet. However, his most vocal complaints have nothing to do with these times.

3) His responses consist of:

a) Running up to our apartment, banging on the door and retreating back to his apartment before we have a chance to open the door.

b) Turning his speakers around in his ceiling to orient towards our apartment, crank them to maximum volume, and leave for over thirty-six hours while the music blared into our apartment ( he has another residence in NJ he stays at primarily ). We called the police a total of seven times when this happened but they could not do anything about the music until he returned and when he did he was incredibly uncooperative and very inebriated.

c) We have been verbally assaulted by him and his family for walking around our apartment at 10:50 am on a Friday.

As it pertains to my original question, my girlfriend - who admittedly is an emotionally delicate person in general - has developed a complex about any noise coming from our apartment - including, but not limited to: The television volume, when it is only barilly audible from our couch, ten ft away; running the sink water to long because he might hear it; locking our door too abruptly because the sound of the lock could disturb him, etc. On numerous occasions she has spoken to her psychologist about the extent to which his reactions disturb not only her, but our entire apartment's standard of living.

We have proof of:

- Not being present during one of this complaints

- Police reports of the incident with the incessant noise.

- Attempts on our part to ameliorate the situation completely by offering our phone numbers to him so he can call us or text us to let us know when we are making noise. We sent him an email stating such with our building management as co-recipients.

- Making complaints about not only the suitcase, but also his complaining about footsteps at 10:50 am on a Friday.

He has zero proof of there being issues with Marijuana smoke coming from our apartment.

We have legitimate concerns for his sanity in general. While almost every single complaint of his appears to lack reason entirely, the most noteworthy example of this is when the muck from our sink hit him on the head, he left his apartment - still covered in the muck - and took a bus immediately to our building's management company to show them in-person what we did to him "intentionally." Off the record, the CEO of our management company has said that our neighbor is clearly a very mentally ill man.

Do we have a case here to sue him in small claims court using psychological distress as our motive behind doing such?

If so, while being financially compensated is something we are not interested in - as much as making a point and finally putting an end to his Bull Shxt - what would a reasonable amount be to ask for without seeming avaricious but also without letting him "get off easy" should a judgement be ruled in our favor?

For something like this, would it be better to represent ourselves in small claims court, or to get a lawyer? Would a lawyer accept a contingent fee for something like this?

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and I look forward to any responses that may come of this.


I'm sorry, but the answer here is very simple.

Small claims will not entertain this sort of claim.

Your recourse is to move.

And really - who exactly is qualified to make a diagnosis regarding this person's mental health?
 

cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
Do we have a case here to sue him in small claims court using psychological distress as our motive behind doing such?

No. Small claims does not recognize such grounds.
 

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
Maybe you ought to find "detached housing" - obviously, apartment living is not for you. Particularly upper-floor apartment living.
 

anearthw

Member
You and your girlfriend (& your friends) are just as annoying as he is. You think this is psychological torture? Stay in college and take some class electives describing military tactics used during various wars. Talk to some vets. Is this a joke?
 

OHRoadwarrior

Senior Member
Do we have a case here to sue him in small claims court using psychological distress as our motive behind doing such?

No. Small claims does not recognize such grounds.
It appears you suffer the indignities you put on others. If you don't like living like a roach, move out of NYC.
 
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Artemiz

Junior Member
Maybe you ought to find "detached housing" - obviously, apartment living is not for you. Particularly upper-floor apartment living.
Thank you for the response. Yet I am confused: how has this at all been indicative of apartment living not being for me? The point is, if he feels justified enough to complain about footsteps at ~10:50 am
, he is the one being unreasonable.

To crank his sound system up to max volume and leave his apartment is indicative of his being unreasonable.

Your comment insinuates that these are typical aspects of apartment living, in which case, I either feel terribly sorry for you, or your neighbors.

How dare I traverse our apartment on my way to school in the morning! And you're right, apt living is unsuitable for me because instead of calling the police when he had his music blaring - to intentionally antagonize us - I should not have called the cops; I should have thrown a party! Who doesn't like partying to partying to concert-level maraca music mid-week with exams to worry about?!


Do we have a case here to sue him in small claims court using psychological distress as our motive behind doing such?

No. Small claims does not recognize such grounds.
Thank you. Short: but answers the question.

I'm sorry, but the answer here is very simple.

Small claims will not entertain this sort of claim.

Your recourse is to move.

And really - who exactly is qualified to make a diagnosis regarding this person's mental health?
Again. Thank you for answering. Provided that my girlfriends family owns our apartment unit, it's not as simple as waiting for our lease to expire and go elsewhere.

And to your last comment Re: diagnosis.

Clearly the only person that could make such a diagnosis would be a physician, or some other mental health expert; however, the simple fact that I mentioned he said it "off the record" should make it fairly obvious that it was to be taken as his opinion and not fact. Thus, even if someone WAS "qualified" to make a diagnosis, unless the diagnosis was performed in an official capacity, the mention of the man's sanity could be considered as nothing more than another persons opinion regardless - at least legally.
 

Artemiz

Junior Member
It appears you suffer the indignities you put on others. If you don't like living like a ****roach, move out of NYC.
Ai ai ai. How dare I walk across the floor at 10:50 am on a Friday. How unreasonable.

The only comment that I said that could in ANY WAY, SHAPE OR FORM, be used to justify a response such as yours is when I conceded that we do have to remind our guests to keep it down. When the other alternative is saying we NEVER have guests over and that we never have to be conscientious of our volume, I don't see what the problem with my concession is and I certainly don't see how it could warrant a response like yours.
 

OHRoadwarrior

Senior Member
Ai ai ai. How dare I walk across the floor at 10:50 am on a Friday. How unreasonable.

The only comment that I said that could in ANY WAY, SHAPE OR FORM, be used to justify a response such as yours is when I conceded that we do have to remind our guests to keep it down. When the other alternative is saying we NEVER have guests over and that we never have to be conscientious of our volume, I don't see what the problem with my concession is and I certainly don't see how it could warrant a response like yours.
Most of the people in NYC live like ****roaches IMO. It was not meant to be a direct slam on you. I apologize if you took it as such.
 

Artemiz

Junior Member
Most of the people in NYC live like ****roaches IMO. It was not meant to be a direct slam on you. I apologize if you took it as such.
And I apologize for snapping. I intrigued though: what do you mean by that?

You and your girlfriend (& your friends) are just as annoying as he is. You think this is psychological torture? Stay in college and take some class electives describing military tactics used during various wars. Talk to some vets. Is this a joke?
Hmmm. This is curious, because I'm certain I already responded to this, yet I cant find the post. Perhaps it's because I called you an idiot.

I'll repeat myself in a less harsh tone.

I suggest you take your own advice before offering it to others and perhaps you should "Talk to some vets" as you clearly have not.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andy-worthington/a-history-of-music-tortur_b_151109.html

http://articles.nydailynews.com/2012-06-02/news/31989906_1_music-groups-torture-prisoners-guantanamo-bay

Nevertheless, comparing a residential dispute with war is about as terrible a point as I think one could make. To make one analogous to yours, I could compare Kool-Aid to war: torture happens in war, but it could also be considered torture for someone to drink a glass of mint-flavored Kool-Aid.
Just about as relevant and equally stupid.
 

Just Blue

Senior Member
And I apologize for snapping. I intrigued though: what do you mean by that?



Hmmm. This is curious, because I'm certain I already responded to this, yet I cant find the post. Perhaps it's because I called you an idiot.

I'll repeat myself in a less harsh tone.

I suggest you take your own advice before offering it to others and perhaps you should "Talk to some vets" as you clearly have not.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andy-worthington/a-history-of-music-tortur_b_151109.html

http://articles.nydailynews.com/2012-06-02/news/31989906_1_music-groups-torture-prisoners-guantanamo-bay

Nevertheless, comparing a residential dispute with war is about as terrible a point as I think one could make. To make one analogous to yours, I could compare Kool-Aid to war: torture happens in war, but it could also be considered torture for someone to drink a glass of mint-flavored Kool-Aid.
Just about as relevant and equally stupid.
You are rude and should PAY an attorney to advise you rather than expect VOLUNTEERS of this site to deal with your nasty attitude. Have a nice day.

BTW: I am the one to report your nasty posting as you violated the TOS.
 

OHRoadwarrior

Senior Member
And I apologize for snapping. I intrigued though: what do you mean by that?
It is a mentality of New Yorker living style. I'll dig up some excerpts regarding them, I hope you see the resemblance. I have always found it fascinating when New Yorkers in their 40 or 50's, tell me they have never left the city. Outside of the city, people tend to value their own home and land, maintaining a distance from their neighbors. New Yorkers do not seem to care, until situations like yours arise.

...species adapt readily to a variety of environments, but prefer warm conditions found within buildings. ****roaches leave chemical trails...as well as emitting airborne pheromones for swarming and mating. These chemical trails transmit bacteria onto surfaces. Other ****roaches will follow these trails to discover sources of food and water, and also discover where other ****roaches are hiding. Thus, ****roaches can exhibit emergent behavior, in which group or swarm behavior emerges from a simple set of individual interactions. Daily rhythms may also be regulated by a complex set of hormonal controls of which only a small subset have been understood. Research has shown group-based decision-making is responsible for complex behaviors such as resource allocation. ****roaches govern themselves in a very simple democracy where each insect has equal standing and group consultations precede decisions that affect the entire group. In a study where 50 ****roaches were placed in a dish with three shelters with a capacity for 40 insects in each, the insects arranged themselves in two shelters with 25 insects in each, leaving the third shelter empty. When the capacity of the shelters was increased to more than 50 insects per shelter, all of the ****roaches arranged themselves in one shelter. Researchers found a balance between cooperation and competition exists in the group decision-making behavior found in ****roaches.
Discovery/Wikipedia
 

Just Blue

Senior Member
It is a mentality of New Yorker living style. I'll dig up some excerpts regarding them, I hope you see the resemblance. I have always found it fascinating when New Yorkers in their 40 or 50's, tell me they have never left the city.

Discovery/Wikipedia
Don't feed the troll. ;)
 
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