Legal Question in Personal Injury in California

Re: Noisy neighbors

You have what we call a private nuisance situation. The law on this subject is that each person has the right to quiet use and enjoyment of their property. What is a private nuisance depends on the facts of each case. With respect to the building from 7am to 8pm issue, you probably could have obtained a Court ordered injunction limiting construction to 8 hours per day, 5 days per week, had you applied to the Court for the same. Since it appears construction is over and you failed to seek an injunction this issue is moot. (a non-issue now.)

The police should be called when there is a situation that is disturbing the peace, such as loud parties or music at night, fighting, etc. If you call the police too many times for what is not a disturbing the peace situation, they could end up treating you as a vexacious complainer, and fail to take you seriously. It's like the old boy who cried wolf story. Only call the police when there is a true disturbing the peace situation. The police could turn out to be witnesses for or against you depending upon the situation you call them out on.

I would recommend sending a letter to your neighbor which articulates the fact that you have a right to quiet use and enjoyment of your property just like they do, and request that they refrain from continously having loud parties in the wee hours of the morning, and that are interfering with your quiet use and enjoyment of your property. I would also start tape recording the actual noise that you can hear from your house to use as evidence in a potential private nuisance cause of action against your neighbor.

I highly recommend retaining an attorney to guide you through this process since your neighbor is an attorney.

Neighbor disputes can become real ugly, however, they can be worked out if both persons are reasonable. The key to these types of cases is obtaining evidence.

Norm

Re: Noisy neighbors

Even though you and your neighbors are not on speaking terms, you should tell them that they are making too much noise after hours and ask them to stop. Making this request in writing will spare you the need to actually speak with these neighbors and (provided that you keep a copy of your note) will generate a record that showed you tried to resolve the dispute amicably.

If this neighborly approach does not work, go ahead and call the police. It doesn't sound like you have much to lose, since your relationship with the neighbors is already bad.