Appellate Division issues injunction based on evidence obtained with the Acoustilog Long-Term Recording System.
Residents of our client's Co-op were disturbed by noise from a nearby rooftop bar. The co-op has now won a major court decision. By a vote of 3 to 1, the Appellate Division has overturned a Supreme Court judge, stating that Acoustilog's Long-Term Recording System demonstrated that there was a disturbance even though there were no DEP noise violations against the bar.
This is a common situation: The DEP or other consultants use measurements that ignore "bass beat" sounds, even though it is common knowledge that such sounds are usually the most disturbing component of the noise made by music venues.
The Appellate Division stated that:
"It is wholly immaterial to maintaining an action for nuisance at common law whether or not DEP, or indeed any municipal authority, has issued noise ordinance violations."
and that,
"The plaintiff [our client, the co-op] also satisfied the second element for a
preliminary injunction, that of irreparable harm. The affidavit
of the cooperative’s expert [Alan Fierstein] wherein he established that the noise
complained of was approximately four times the legal limit for
the residential neighborhood was unrebutted by competent proof."
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