Forest Hills Stadium‘s authorized battle with the neighborhood’s householders affiliation is one step nearer to decision.
On Oct. 21, Justice Joseph J. Esposito dismissed 5 of seven causes that the Forest Hills Gardens Company (FHGC) alleged in a 2023 lawsuit filed in opposition to the The West Aspect Tennis Membership, which owns the stadium, in New York Supreme Court docket – Queens County. The lawsuit seeks to close down the summer time live performance program on the former website of the U.S. Open, which is run by revered live-music veteran Mike Luba.
Among the many causes of motion dismissed by Decide Esposito: claims that the live performance sequence was a violation of the tennis membership’s contract with the FHGC, which owns the streets, sidewalks and customary areas of Forest Hills Gardens, and represents roughly 900 property homeowners (together with the membership); that the stadium was a zoning violation and that the membership had unjustly profited from the stadium’s rising success. It hosted a single live performance when it re-opened in 2013; in 2024, that quantity totaled roughly 30, together with exhibits by Neil Younger and Loopy Horse, The Nationwide, The Conflict on Medication, Khruangbin, Tiësto, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard and Pitbull. And in early June, Hozier bought out 4 nights — a primary within the stadium’s 101-year historical past.
Decide Esposito dismissed all however FHGC’s private and non-private nuisance claims, however he didn’t discover in FHGC’s favor on the deserves of the nuisance claims. He merely held that they’d said a declare ample to outlive the movement to dismiss, which they now should show via discovery. (A future courtroom date has not been set.)
In a press release, Forest Hills Stadium’s legal professional Akiva Shapiro stated, “Forest Hills Stadium, an iconic and well-liked venue that anchors New York’s vibrant dwell music scene, has poured large sources into being neighbor. We’re gratified that the Court docket dismissed the overwhelming majority of the claims and made clear that concert events on the Stadium are licensed beneath the related authorized paperwork. We’re assured that the remaining claims may even be dismissed.”
The Forest Hills Gardens Corp’s legal professional Christopher Rizzo additionally responded to the choice in a press release: “Decide Esposito denied the [West Side Tennis] Membership’s efforts to dismiss FHGC’s Might 16, 2023 grievance, preserved necessary claims and dismissed others. We’re happy the decide has continued to acknowledge the intense nuisance created via noise code violations, FHGC’s lack of management of its indisputably personal streets, trespass and different land-use harms. FHGC will proceed to press ahead in trial courtroom. On claims that had been dismissed, FHGC will think about its enchantment choices.”
Rizzo added: “Because the courtroom said: ‘[FHGC] has proffered ample proof that it suffers particular damage from the lack of management of its personal streets/sidewalks, the attendant monetary prices to keep up these streets in mild of the concert events and the large-scale pedestrian trespass that outcomes from the occasions…[FHGC] succeeded in establishing public nuisance…in addition to the documented proof on noise ranges from the stadium.”
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