Judge dismisses suit against Forest Hills Stadium though second suit remains
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A Queens judge on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit brought by a group of Central Queens locals against Forest Hills Stadium, which they alleged had become a public nuisance as it had expanded its concerts in recent years. Eagle file photo by Ryan Schwach
By Jacob Kaye
A Queens judge this week dropped one of two lawsuits brought by separate groups of Central Queens locals against Forest Hills Stadium, the concert venue some residents have alleged has become a nuisance in the private neighborhood of Forest Hills Gardens in recent years.
Queens Supreme Court Justice Robert Caloras said that Concerned Citizens of Forest Hills, a group that formed in opposition to the stadium, didn’t have standing to sue the Queens music venue, which has grown increasingly popular and controversial over the past decade as it has revamped its music events. He also said that the resident group failed to prove that the individuals bringing the suit had suffered more harm than the community at large, a requirement when bringing a public nuisance claim.
As such, Caloras dismissed the lawsuit on Wednesday.
Akiva Shapiro, an attorney with Gibson Dunn representing the West Side Tennis Club, the stadium’s owners, said in a statement that they were “delighted and grateful to the court for today’s decision.”
“We remain committed to thoughtfully preserving a cultural icon and delivering the best possible experience inside and outside of the stadium,” Shapiro said. “While this does not mean the end of the stadium’s legal challenges, we are hopeful that the stadium’s rights will soon be fully vindicated in the remaining lawsuits as well.”
Representatives for Concerned Citizens of Forest Hills did not respond to the Eagle’s requests for comment on Wednesday.
The dismissal comes several weeks after a “petition of support” for the stadium created and circulated by the West Side Tennis Club garnered a little over 25,000 signatures. The petition was propped up as a response to the dual lawsuits brought against Forest Hills Stadium.
The stadium, which first opened in the 1920s, has, in recent years, become a source of controversy in the quiet corner of Queens.
After hosting a minimal number of concerts for years, that began to change over the past decade. In 2014, Forest Hills Stadium hosted five concerts. In 2023, it hosted 31.
As the number of shows grew, so did the complaints.
Last year, Concerned Citizens and the Forest Hills Gardens Corporation brought separate lawsuits against the stadium. Both groups claimed that the noise emanating from the stadium during shows had begun to disturb residents, whose homes would allegedly shake if the music was particularly loud.
The lawsuits also claimed that the stadium had failed to control its patrons, who would wander through the neighborhood, littering and loitering in the area run by Forest Hills Gardens Corporation, not New York City.
In April, the judge overseeing the case brought by FHGC granted a preliminary injunction requested by the plaintiffs, and ordered the parties to find an independent monitor to track noise levels coming out of the stadium. However, after ordering FHGC to pay for the cost of the monitor, a monitor was never installed.
The judge also ordered the stadium to “create and implement a plan through the use of barricades that direct and further limit concertgoers' access to most residential areas.”
The lawsuit brought against the stadium by Forest Hills Gardens Corporation is ongoing.
