Suing the Smoker Next Door

Some New York condo owners are suing their smoking neighbors. (We all knew these lawsuits were coming.) The lawsuit, reported in this article in the New York Times, has some amusing background about the dispute between the neighbors and among other residents in this appartently litigious community.

The surprising thing is that the residents are not suing the association. The association has been sued before, by other tenants, who have complained of a "plague of roaches".

Why aren't these tenants suing the association? Because, according to the plaintiff, [the association] has been cooperative, even paying to seal off ducts in Ms. Huff’s apartment that could have been spreading the smoke. (Sealing off those ducts may also have had the secondary benefit of limiting cockroach migration.)