“Don’t Like Your Neighbors’ House? Sue Them”

I lapped up this New York Times story about a lawsuit because hey who isn’t obsessed with real estate nowadays?

But can you imagine a New York owner − maybe one of those zillionaire Russians grabbing up penthouses in new buildings on West 57th Street for $90 million − gazing critically out of his window to a penthouse across the street and deciding that he doesn’t like the looks of it?

Actually, as I wrote that, I remembered several such lawsuits. Here’s one.

Anyhow, take a look at this indifferently pleasant, unfinished house in Raleigh, North Carolina, and try to understand why an across-the-street neighbor would sue the architect-owner because she doesn’t like the aesthetics of the house.

(You couldn’t hear me, of course, but I just produced a big, big sigh.) Maybe a healthy amended application of Richard Pryor’s genius quote is here appropriate: Suing your neighbor because you don’t like the way his house looks is god’s way of telling you you’ve got too much money.

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