Neighbors are hell sometimes and in this case which ones are the hell-est? You decide. Sean Lennon owns a brownstone in Greenwish Village, next to Marisa Tomei’s parents. However he has neglected to control a tree growing next to the houses and, according to the NY Daily News, the tree has grown through the concrete foundation of the Tomei’s townhouse, even breaking the front stoop and displacing the railing. In consequences, they are suing the son of the famous Beatle for $10 million in damages! Ouch!
The tree is an Allantus tree, an invasive species from China and according to court papers, it has ‘compromised the basement wall and interior … (causing) irreparable damage to the structural integrity of the building’. The Tomeis tried to reach out to Sean in order to address the problem before suing him, but it looks like he was not very responsible.
‘Our clients fear that the entire front brick facade of their building is being compromised and may become damaged as a result of this shifting of the stoop and columns,’ wrote their lawyer, Gary Walters, last September.
‘He refuses to do anything. He’s owned it for six years and neglected it. I like him personally but he’s stubborn and he has a lawyer who is very belligerent,’ added Gary Tomei in an interview.
And worse things even happened! Lennon’s contractor did some work which ‘disrupted an underground stream, and washed out the soil under Tomei’s foundation, causing the whole house to shift’, and to top this, the pipes in Lennon’s house burst earlier this year, causing even more damage!
Tomei seems to have lost patience, ‘I hate to see this tree come down, but it’s destroying my stoop,’ he declared to the NY Daily News, ‘There are cracks everywhere. The masons don’t want to make repairs because they say it’s just going to happen again. I want him to take the tree down and pay my expenses. It’s not cheap. I tried but you can’t talk to him. He’s always traveling.’ That’s the problem with musicians! May be Yoko Ono could take care of this when her son is touring?
This is serious business as the house could well collapse, but I wonder whether suing is the right solution in this case. Things like these happen and isn’t it why assurances are for? And what about City building inspectors? Plus if the contractor did some bad work, shouldn’t he be found responsible? Should I get involved? Interestingly, Marisa seems adorable but her dad Gary is a lawyer himself, so it could explain a lot, and on the other side, and John’s son is, of course, a dreamer.