Posted by Mike on 9/25/07

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Since we have moved in to our condo in New Jersey, we have
had the unfortunate experience of dealing with an upstairs
neighbor who at first seemed to be ultra-sensitive to
noise. Our surround sound speaker system was installed for
one day before she came downstairs to complain. We turned
the sound down, and yet, she summoned to police at 11:00pm
that night to have them tell us to turn it down. When the
police arrived they found that our sound level was
acceptable (even at the late hours, according to the noise
ordinance), and left without even a warning.

Our neighbor then complained by banging on her floor/our
ceiling loudly when we played music each of the subsequent
weekends, both times at a level that the police found to
be acceptable. She came up to me at the parking lot, and
we had a heated exchange where she said she would report
me and fine me. I told her I had done nothing wrong as the
police found the levels to be acceptable.

Today marks one month to the day of the heated exchange,
and since then, she has called the police three additional
times (each found no violations on our part). Each time
she had refused to let the police officer into her
premises to check the noise for themselves.

She has also contacted the local health official five
times whose responsibility is to enforce noise/nuisance
codes. Of the five complaints, I was not home for four of
those when everything was off. The one time that I was
home, I was asleep with no sound on. I have volunteered
with the health official to do a decibel test to test the
level, to prove whether we were right or wrong, without a
shadow of doubt. As the decibel test would involve the
health official to be in her premises, we would require
her to be present as well. We have scheduled the test
three times, and she has cancelled all three times after
conferring with an attorney. The last time (yesterday) she
told him that she no longer needs the health official's
services. He told me that he thinks she is changing couse
as she is getting no results, and that she is preparing a
civil suit against me, which I guess would include things
like emotional distress (she claims she hasn't been able
to sleep) and nuisance.

This is of course harassment and intimidation on her part,
and we have already filed a complaint with our condo board
about this (hearing is next week). However, I have three
questions:

1. What would be the implications if we file civil
harassment charges against her? I spoke with a police
officer about this and he said that it would open us up to
lawsuits.

2. While I think her case has no merits as the allegations
are completely false, should I "lawyer up" and prepare for
this suit? And how should one defend against these false
claims? I have documented as much as I can, including
receipts for one of the times she alleged I was playing my
music too loud.

3. As we are not sure what she is capable of, what else
should we brace ourselves for?

Re: Neighbor fabricating noise complaints, 12/05/11, by Sas.

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