How noise complaints in a Manhattan co-op led to a $750,000 legal settlement and shattered a friendship.The New York Times reports that long before complaints were made about shrieking parrots, before lawyers were hired and stern letters were exchanged, and more than a decade before the Department of Justice got involved, the Rutherford, a 14-story co-op in Manhattan’s Gramercy Park neighborhood, was a peaceful place to live. This was the case for Charlotte Kullen, who at the age of 26, had already dealt with difficult landlords as a renter in the city. When she purchased a small studio apartment on the fifth floor of the Rutherford in late 1999, she felt relieved. She saw it as an investment and a place where she could have peace and quiet, decorate, and eventually start a family.
Kullen’s next-door neighbor, Meril Lesser, had also recently moved in and the two quickly became friends. They had a lot in common – both were from New Jersey, around the same age, and deeply attached to their animals. Kullen had a cat, two papillon dogs, and a horse in New Jersey, while Lesser had two parrots.
Their friendship started off warmly, with the two women going to bars and parties together and trying to make their mark in the city. Kullen had a few different jobs before starting her own public relations firm and working from her apartment. Lesser briefly worked as a social worker before selling her handmade jewelry on Etsy.
Over the years, the neighbors shared meals, dating advice, pain relievers, and even holidays together. However, their friendship took a turn for the worse when Kullen started to notice that Lesser’s parrots were causing a disturbance in the building. This led to a series of events that eventually involved lawyers and the Department of Justice, turning the peaceful Rutherford into a federal case.
Despite their friendship being strained, Kullen and Lesser still live next door to each other, but their relationship will never be the same.
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