Pelletier v. Transit-Mix Concrete Corp.

11 Misc. 2d 617, 174 N.Y.S.2d 794, 1958 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 3151
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedJune 9, 1958
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 11 Misc. 2d 617 (Pelletier v. Transit-Mix Concrete Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pelletier v. Transit-Mix Concrete Corp., 11 Misc. 2d 617, 174 N.Y.S.2d 794, 1958 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 3151 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1958).

Opinion

Sidney A. Fine, J.

Plaintiffs — 75 in all, 74 having joined with plaintiff Pelletier at the trial — residents of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village, sue to enjoin defendant’s operations during the early morning and late evening and night hours. [618]*618Repeatedly during the trial those who testified and their counsel disclaimed any desire to restrain the defendant’s activities during the normal working day, but claimed that the manner in which defendant conducts its business during the night and early morning constitutes a public nuisance They say they are disturbed and awakened by a series of noises, some sporadic and intermittent, some with greater regularity, and by dirt, soot and dust which find their way into' their apartments. Some found fault with noises created by the starting of motors of ready-mix trucks before 6:00 a.m. at defendant’s plant, by gunning of motors of trucks which stop for the red light at the corner of 20th Street and Avenue G and start up on change of light, others by the clanging of cables against the boom of a crane stationed on defendant’s dock and used to unload sand and gravel from scows moored alongside the dock or by banging of metal bars on the cement containers and on drums of the ready-mix trucks, or by the banging of the metal bucket of the crane on the concrete pavement, and still others referred to the noise of the revolving drum on the truck as it washes out at the end of the day’s work.

The dirt and dust came, say the plaintiffs, from bins, in which cement is temporarily stored before being deposited into defendant’s trucks and also in process of such deposit and by sand, blown from a belt conveyor, on which that material is carried to overhead bins, thence to be weighed into the ready-mix trucks.

Stuy ves ant Town and Peter Cooper Tillage were constructed in 1947. A few of the plaintiffs have lived in these developments since they were built and others have moved in more recently. These buildings are located between East 14th Street and East 23rd Street, and between the west side of Avenue 0 and First Avenue. The windows of some of the plaintiffs look out on the East River either directly facing east or obliquely from the north or south. Separating these buildings from the entrance of defendant’s plant is Avenue C, a street 200 feet in width, the center portion of which is occupied by the elevated portion of the East River Drive; the space directly below it is used as a public parking lot fully occupied. The street surface of Avenue G has a two-ear wide southbound lane and a similar northbound lane, each respectively to the side of the area occupied by the East River Drive.

The defendant has occupied its present location a.t 20th Street on the east side of Avenue C along the waterfront — concededly in an industrial zone — since 1938. Here it moved from 18th Street and the East River to make room for the East River Drive. It had been at the prior location for 10 years preceded by an [619]*619additional 10 years by a predecessor in the same line of business. It is not engaged in any manufacturing business. It maintains a plant consisting of two overhead hoppers for deposit of commercial coarse sand, gravel and stone and two hoppers for the deposit of cement. It unloads sand, gravel and stone from scows moored alongside its dock, by means of a crane and clam shell bucket at a fixed spot on the dock. These materials are stockpiled before being transported by a belt conveyor to the hoppers.

Cement comes in sealed, airtight metal containers and is unloaded by a noiseless dustproof method by means of compressed air through a hose attached to one valve on the container which blows the cement out of the container through another hose attached to another valve and thence into bins on the dock.

Sand and gravel or stone and cement are loaded into ready-mix concrete trucks. This type of truck has a drum mounted on a truck chassis. The materials are dropped from the upper hopper by gravity through a rubber hose called a boot, fitted into the truck hatch. The door on the hatch is clamped tight and is completely sealed so that no materials may escape while the drum is rotated. The loading of materials into defendant’s trucks creates no appreciable noise or dust. The rotation of the drum in the process of mixing the materials takes place, not at defendant’s plant, but at the construction jobs throughout the city, to which the material is delivered.

Because of the limited space on the dock — there is only a small storage capacity — continuous delivery and unloading of materials during the worldng day is necessary. At times, when particular urgent demands are made by construction needs, or by the type of building which depends on tides, such as dock building, or by emergencies such as breaks in water mains or other public utilities necessitating repairs or reconstruction, defendant does operate before 6:00 a.m. and after 8:00 p.m.

Unquestionably it was one of these unusual circumstances which focused the attention of plaintiff Pelletier and one of his neighbors on defendant’s late work and helped them enlist the others who joined them in this action. The Chase Manhattan Bank is erecting its new building downtown. Because of ground conditions and the demand that certain foundation structures be erected monolithically, concrete had to be supplied and poured continuously into the previously prepared forms. Accordingly deliveries were made on many days during the months of June and July, 1957 until 9:00, 10:00 and 11:00 p.m. and on two occasions until midnight. But at such times only one or two trucks were used for such late deliveries.

[620]*620Stuyvesant Town forbids the use of air conditioners and tenants keep their windows open on warm summer nights, and late operations could not but emphasize the noises that during the day mix with and are absorbed by other activities of defendant’s neighbors to its north and south on the waterfront, and by passenger auto traffic on the elevated highway and by buses, heavy duty trucks and trailers using the north and southbound Avenue C roads and by the southbound buses turning the comer of Avenue C and 20th Street to proceed westerly on East 20th Street. Each of the witnesses testified however, that there has been an appreciable diminution in these noises continuously since October, 1957, some testifying that they heard no noises since October, 1957 and others ascribing the failure to detect them to closed windows during winter months.

The injunctive remedy is an extraordinary one, which must be exercised with great caution and only when the right to it has been clearly and convincingly demonstrated. (Forstmann v. Joray Holding Co., 244 N. Y. 22, 29-30; McCann v. Chasm Power Co., 211 N. Y. 301, 306; Lyon v. Water Comrs. of Binghamton, 228 App. Div. 585, 590; 28 Am. Jur., Injunctions, p. 421.)

In Haber v. Paramount Ice Corp. (239 App. Div. 324, affd. 264 N. Y. 98) which was an action to restrain the operation of defendant’s business between the hburs of 9:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m., so that the plaintiff and his family might not be disturbed by noises and vibrations which interfered with their sleep, an injunction was denied to the plaintiff, the learned Appellate Division saying at page 326: ‘ ‘ Whatever basis there is for the judgment for a permanent injunction must be found in the 1

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Benjamin v. Nelstad Materials Corp.
214 A.D.2d 632 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1995)
Blair v. 305-313 East 47th Street Associates
123 Misc. 2d 612 (New York Supreme Court, 1983)
Celebrity Studios, Inc. v. Civetta Excavating Inc.
72 Misc. 2d 1077 (New York Supreme Court, 1973)
Thompson Construction Corp. v. Dormitory Authority
48 Misc. 2d 296 (New York Supreme Court, 1965)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
11 Misc. 2d 617, 174 N.Y.S.2d 794, 1958 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 3151, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pelletier-v-transit-mix-concrete-corp-nysupct-1958.