From the vast number of noise complaints among neighbors in apartment buildings, it would seem that the law may not always fill the gaps left where no "good fence" can be erected.

In O'Hara v. Board of Directors of the Park Avenue and Seventy-Seventh Street Corp., 206 A.D.3d 476 (1st Dep't 2022), downstairs neighbors complained that their lives were made "intolerable and uninhabitable" from the children in the upstairs apartment at 850 Park Avenue, New York, N.Y. The upstairs children allegedly created "noises, shrieks and pounding" and other "raucous events" which caused noise and vibration in the downstairs apartment.

After alleged attempts to resolve the issues with management and the board failed, plaintiffs filed suit, interposing several claims against the board of directors of the corporation for breach of fiduciary duty, breach of the proprietary lease, breach of warranty of habitability, breach of the covenant of quiet enjoyment, actual and/or constructive eviction, negligence and attorney fees. The plaintiffs also sued their upstairs neighbors for injunctive relief and damages alleging nuisance and breach of the Coop's House rules.