Forest Hills Gardens asks court to reverse ruling in suit against stadium
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The Forest Hills Gardens Corporation has filed an appeal in their lawsuit against the Forest Hills Stadium operator after a judge threw out most of their complaints last year.Eagle file photo by Jamie Poole
By Ryan Schwach
Residents of Forest Hills Gardens filed an appeal in their lawsuit against the popular stadium that sits inside their private neighborhood last week as they look to reverse a Queens judge’s decision to toss out most of their complaints.
The appeal was filed in the hope that the court will reinstate several of the residents’ key grievances with Forest Hills Stadium, and its operator, the West Side Tennis Club.
In their appeal, residents of the Gardens Corporation argued that Queens Supreme Court Justice Joseph Esposito wrongly dismissed a bulk of their lawsuit against the stadium, including allegations regarding trespassing and zoning violations.
In October, Esposito partially granted a request from the stadium’s lawyers to dismiss the lawsuit brought by residents of the Forest Hills Gardens Corporation, the private neighborhood where the recently-revived concert venue sits.
While he didn’t throw out the lawsuit entirely, he tossed out several of the residents’ key complaints in the suit.
He dismissed claims that the stadium had been operating out of its legal bounds, that crowds were trespassing on private streets and that the stadium had been breaking zoning laws.
FHGC had previously argued that the stadium “lacks permission to use plaintiff private streets and sidewalks for access to concerts held at the stadium.”
Though locals have claimed that large concert crowds invade their sidewalks, streets and lawns, Esposito ruled that FHGC failed to adequately prove that any illegal trespassing took place.
In the lawsuit, community members alleged 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 noise can be intolerable, the windows literally shake,” local Martin Levinson told the Eagle last year.
They argued that the noise has been a nuisance both to the community as a whole, and to the lives of individual residents.
Last week, the FHGC filed to appeal the judge’s decision to throw out the complaints.
“No New York City residents should be subjected to the intolerable noise and nuisances created
by these concerts that are taking place immediately next to residents’ homes and apartments,” said Anthony Oprisiu, the president of the FHGC board. “We cannot allow any business to undermine the well-being of our residential community. The evidence clearly shows that the concert operations are infringing on the peace, safety, and property rights of our community.”
In debating Esposito’s ruling, FHGC argued that concertgoers using their private streets should constitute a trespass.
“The sheer number of people flooding our streets during these concerts creates a chaotic and unsafe environment for residents and is preventing us from using our own streets for parking and access to our homes,” added Oprisiu. “This is a clear violation of our private property rights.”
The appeal also reiterated the argument that the stadium’s concerts violate the stadium’s zoning, and that the concerts themselves are against the deal that governs all properties within Forest Hills Gardens.
“These concerts are neither a ‘club purpose’ nor a ‘residential purpose,’” FHGC said. “Their current activities are a blatant disregard of the covenants that have defined our community for more than one hundred years”
“FHGC remains open to reasonable resolutions to this matter,” they added in regard to all their complaints.
In a response to the appeal, the stadium’s lawyer, Akiva Shapiro of Gibson Dunn, called the cases against his client “vendetta lawsuits,” and said that FHGC has not bargained in good faith.
“[The lawsuits] have failed to impress multiple judges,” he said in a statement. “But even after the majority of the Forest Hills Gardens Corporation’s claims were dismissed, the Gardens Corporation under Anthony Oprisiu’s leadership has refused to negotiate or even respond to the West Side Tennis Club’s good faith proposals, which have included generous payments per concert to the Gardens Corporation and caps on the number of concerts.”
“The Gardens Corporation continues to cling to desperate claims and to misuse funds entrusted to it by the residents of Forest Hills Garden to launch endless and expensive legal salvos,” he added. “We are confident that the court’s dismissal of the majority of FHGC’s claims will be upheld on appeal, and we will continue to adhere to the court's order and the precedents set by more than a decade of collaboration with the community.”
The lawsuit is the only remaining suit against the stadium after a similar case was dismissed in full last year.
In August, Queens Supreme Court Justice Robert Caloras dismissed the suit brought by Concerned Citizens of Forest Hills, a group that formed in opposition to the stadium, ruling it didn’t have standing to sue the Queens music venue.
Lawyers for the stadium have used Caloras’ ruling as evidence that the remaining lawsuit should also be entirely dismissed.
Forest Hills Stadium currently has a few concerts already scheduled for this year’s concert season in the summer, including rock band King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard and country artist Tyler Childers.
