Money Matters, Simplified.
Neighbor sues Madonna over noise, disruptions
by Natalie James - October 20, 2009 - comments
The 51-year-old pop diva Madonna moved to her seventh-floor apartment in Manhattan's upscale Central Park West avenue last year after her much-publicized divorce from British filmmaker Guy Ritchie
Los Angeles, October 20 -- Neighbors who live near the pop superstar Madonna’s swanky Manhattan apartment are complaining that the loud noise the pop diva pumps out is unbearable. An infuriated neighbor is now suing the singer for turning her NYC home into a rehearsal space.
Karen George, who resides in the apartment just over Madonna’s, accuses the “Queen of Pop” for using her apartment as a recording studio and causing an unbearable amount of noise.
What made the neighbor angry
The 51-year-old Karen has filed a lawsuit against the Material Girl, claiming Madge has transformed her apartment into a rehearsal space due to which the loud music is constantly streaming from the star's home.
“The apartment directly below Ms. George’s is owned and occupied by Madonna Ciccone (“Madonna”), who regularly uses her residential apartment as a dance rehearsal studio with others,” said the lawsuit, filed on Friday in New York State Supreme Court.
"Madonna and one or more of her invited guests repeatedly dance and/or train in apartment 7A to unreasonable high decibel amplified music, causing noise and vibration to pour through the walls, ceilings and radiators."
Board failed to address the issue with Madonna
Karen is suing the building’s co-op board of directors and the Midboro Management Company for failing to do anything about the excessive noise that she first complained about back in 2008.
“Despite Ms. George’s repeated complaints over the past seventeen months to the defendants concerning this situation, the pounding noise and vibration continues to emanate from Madonna’s apartment, and Ms. George has been forced to endure substantial interference with her tenancy by virtue of defendants’ failure to fulfill their obligations,” the suit against the building board said.
The co-op’s board of directors, however, has said that it has threatened to evict Madonna if the noise does not stop, according to The Associated Press. But Karen claimed the board failed to address the issue with Madonna despite her repeated complaints, saying the loud noise has continued, allegedly at times lasting up to three hours.
"Ms. George has been forced to endure blaring music, stomping and shaking walls for approximately one and a half to three hours each day," the suit says.
Karen did not specify what amount she is seeking for disruption in her lawsuit but says it could be equal to the maintenance she has paid to the corporation since 2008.
The 51-year-old pop diva Madonna moved to her seventh-floor apartment in Manhattan's upscale Central Park West avenue last year after her much-publicized divorce from British filmmaker Guy Ritchie.