Pentony v. Conrad et al.

The plaintiffs sought to enjoin their downstairs neighbors from smoking between 4:00 P.M. and 9:00 A.M. (when the Pentonys would be home from work) in their apartment because the secondhand smoke seeped throughout the Pentony’s apartment.  After a two-hour hearing on April 28, 1994, a judge ordered the apartment complex directors to try to resolve the dispute out of court.  See “2 Smokers Are Sued by Neighbors in Apartment Above Them,” New York Times, April 28, 1994, B6; “US Couple Sue Downstairs Neighbours for Smoking, The Times, April 29, 1994; Gold, J., “Judge Rejects Bid to Stop Neighbors Smoking,” The Record (Bergen County, NJ) S06; Hanley, R., “Judge Turns Down Couple in Quest of Anti-Smoking Order Against Their Neighbors,” New York Times, April 29, 1994, B5; “Couple Whose Neighbors Smoke Sent to Co-op Board,” Orlando Sentinel, April 30, 1994, A18; “Judge: Neighbors’ Smoking Dispute Must be Resolved by Board,” The Legal Intelligencer, May 2, 1994, 8; “Complex Orders Repairs in Fight Over Smoking,” The Record (Bergen County, NJ), May 13, 1994, A27; “Truce Is Reached in a Co-op Clash Over Smoking,” May 13, 1994, B4; Boronson, W., “Love Thy Neighbor: Different Ways to Cope with the Nuisance Next Door,” The Record (Bergen County, NJ), May 15, 1994, R1; and “Upstairs, Up in Smoke,” National Law Journal, May 23, 1994, A23.

The neighbors settled their dispute in 1995; the terms of the settlement remain confidential.  See “Neighbors Settle Smoking Dispute,” The Record (Bergen County, NJ), March 2, 1995, C12.

NJ Super. Ct. (1994).