Private Nuisance—Extremely Contentious Disputes Among Neighboring Co-op Shareholders—Noise—Rooftop Boundary Line—Floodlights—Department of Buildings Application—Loud Screaming at a Spouse—Defendant's Use of the Media—Trespass—Prima Facie Tort—Defamation—Compensatory, Punitive and Nominal Damages—Part 130 Sanction Denied—Request For Declaratory Judgment and Damages Did Not Preclude Jury Trial—UCC Article 9

The plaintiff and the two defendants are neighbors in a co-op apartment building. The parties had been "engaged since 2015 in a bitter, ongoing series of quarrels…" The plaintiff asserted claims for trespass, declaratory relief and private nuisance and sought compensatory and punitive damages.

In 2019, the court granted the plaintiff's motion for partial summary judgment on liability with respect to the trespass and declaratory judgment claims. The Appellate Division, affirmed the "trespass-related liability rulings…."

The plaintiff made the subject motion for partial summary judgment on liability with respect to his private nuisance claims. He alleged that there had been a "targeted and malicious years-long harassment campaign 'to deprive him of' his right to use and enjoy his property, 'in response to his refusal to install soundproofing in the floor of his apartment, which is directly above the (defendants') apartment….'"