CAMDEN, Maine — A Camden couple has filed a lawsuit claiming that the construction of a neighbor’s deck has blocked the sun from shining on their deck and in the window of their residence.
Richard Rifkind and Mary Ann Rifkind also claim in the lawsuit filed on Nov. 21 in Knox County Superior that the contractor trespassed on their deck and damaged it to support the upper-floor deck.
The lawsuit was filed by Rifkinds against Peter R. Freeman and Carolyn Sue Gill who own the condo above the Rifkinds. Also named as a defendant is Ryan Lawrence, doing business as Lawrence Construction.
The lawsuit states that the Rifkinds had voiced concern to the contractor before and during the August construction of the deck attached to the condo that is directly above their unit. The Rifkinds warned that the other deck would block the sunlight to their deck as well as shade the windows of their unit.
The Rifkinds also argue in the lawsuit that they directed Lawrence to stay off their deck and to not use it for support for his own deck, but he trespassed on it, and damaged it by cutting holes in it and running timbers through their deck to support the other one. The Rifkinds also claim that the work has interfered with the integrity of their deck and tore siding off their unit.
The Rifkinds have asked the court to order the removal of their neighbor’s deck and for the payment of legal and court costs. The couple claim that the other deck diminishes the value of their property.
The condos are located on High Street in Camden.
The Rifkinds are represented by attorney Dana Strout of Rockport.
There is no reply to the lawsuit yet filed with the court.
Lawrence said Wednesday that he did not want to comment at this time. Freeman and Gill could not be reached for comment.
Condos suk.
Don’t you need permits and Condo board approval for this kind of stuff?
Yes and yes. It will be interesting to find out whether those were acquired or not. There is not enough information in this article to determine who is “right” and who is “wrong”.
Lawrence Construction ??
That outfit is on my “do not call list” for sure.
The real question here is are they from Jersey or Mass….
I bet all the parties involved with this nonsense are liberal, voted for same sex attraction “marriage”, hate Gov Lepage, are mourning for “the mural”, involved with the “peace” movement in their community.
Do you get the concept of sticking to the subject?
Condos, people who live in them and their stupid associations are evil.
And apparently you live under a rock.
Tiny thoughts create small change. All the people from outside of Maine, bring good income into the state. Just saying.
So that means money gets you what you want.
No matter what
No, that is not what I implied. Reality says People who come to Maine to just visit or who have a 2nd home, spend money. That money is often generated locally and supports small businesses. Now to reply to your money gets you what you want no matter what/ that is Exactly what the democrats did to get Maine Dems elected.
true…but i think you see this behavior more these days even in blue collar Maine towns without many from away. We are more isolated and don’t know each other. And people don’t want to give up their “rights” for the sake of good relationships with their neighbors. Not everybody–but you see this more.
So this is what it must be like to be rich.
I’m sure even Camden has a condo for under $200K
Oh, that would make them part of the landed gentry don’t you know.
Rich people are weird.
“its deck” and “its residence”? The BDN is, in fact, referring to people, right?
They way I read it, if you assume that the Rifkind(s)’s pet cat is named “its,” and also allow the BDN a certain amount of poetic license in the spelling of last names, the article makes perfect sense. But if that’s not the case, maybe there should be a job opening at the BDN for someone who understands there is more to editing than just hitting the spell check button and then submitting “it” to the printer. But apparently in this case the BDN didn’t even use spell check because they have spelled that last name of one the couples involved Rifkins and Rifkind so if you read the article as written it makes no sense at all.
read an article in the BDN by Ryan Mac Laughlin.. made even less sense!!
And thats the way things go amongst the gentry.
Well at least its not more stories about Oxy and stealing copper pipes and conduit. Wait, this is more depressing.
#firstworldproblems
wow. can you imagine living this close to each other and not have the courtesy to work this out so both neighbors would be happy with one another? Yesterday i read about one neighbor suing the other about trees that had grown and blocked their view of the ocean.. This region seems to have some Nasty people..lol
It’s all the transplants and out of state Summah complaints.
Ayuh
People should try and get along. Life is too short. There are much more major problems in the world than worrying about not enough sunlight falling on one’s deck.
Ok, now lets say that you have a big yard and a beautiful lawn. And your neighbor lives down the road from you. So now he wants to mow his lawn and he borrows a lawn mower and comes to your lawn and unloads the lawn mower on your lawn and rides it over to his lawn and mows his grass. Then he rides the lawn mower back to your lawn after his job is done and loads the rider back on to his truck. Now mind you this is your lawn. He never asked you if it was ok to do this. Life is short and you have an urge to get along. But in unloading the rider he rips up your very nice very well groomed lawn. 1. Do you worry about world problems. 2. Worry about the economy. 3. Just kick his a##, and get it out of your system and hope he starts to use someone else’s lawn. I vote for the economy.
I get your points. I would not be at all happy if someone , without permission, rode over/mowed down my lawn. I would handle it in some way. I would talk to the person who overstepped his/her bounds. I would not hire a lawyer about it unless it escalated to an extreme degree. (threats, harassment,etc.) I can understand why these home owners are disgruntled. Not everyone would have the money to fight this though, nor think it was important enough to attempt to take to court,etc. They must have quite a bit of time on their hands.
Or say, not having a deck? ;)
You won’t find a more passive person than me, though there’s passive, and then there’s being a doormat.
So true. Many many people do not have decks on their homes. It is all kind of relative sometimes.
I was thinking the same thing before I even read the article!
Who says they didn’t try an work it out before hand?
Maybe they did try. doesn’t sound like they were very successful does it? you must be the one having the sunlight issue? lol
Don’t know if they did or didn’t “quad” so why make the assumption they didn’t try and work it out?
And thanks for being concerned about the level of Vitamin D I get on a daily basis but I get plenty.
“jd” my whole point was, how petty this whole issue really was, as I believe many see it the same way. The day prior was an article about trees blocking an ocean view. If you are going to live so close to people, you really have to be the right person and respect each other, or as others have pointed out, get a large piece of land and have your space. Glad your getting your vitamin D, let them have their deck and move your chair
Seriously? Why is this even news? Should this be in the “you gotta be kidding” section?
it doesn”t belong in the Business English section …. the writing is unbelievable!!
Exactly my thoughts as well…. or maybe the “Seriously, people?!?!” section…
lovey! lovey! that naaaaahsty laborer blocked my sun.
Well, at the least it will provide a couple lawyers with a job. Obama can put them on his list of jobs he has created.
First I read about trees being in someones way and now this? God forbid if these people had real problems! Only in Camden! Go back to where you came from!
I’ve never heard of a condominium being purchased without pages of covenants prohibiting activity like this. We’re not getting the whole story here.
Yep. I was thinking the same thing.
As usual
They should have worked this out on the way to the “no tanks” meeting in searsport.
That upstairs deck must have a tremendous overhang to block sunlight!
First it’s trees, now a deck… What is next?
Out-of=Staters in a large appendage contest. Who cares.
Here’s an idea. Spread out. Don’t move into highly dense residential areas where everyone has to think and behave the same. Rats, when crowded into a small space, will eventually eat each other.
Whine,whine,whine. I got mine but I don’t want you to have yours.
so the only people who should be allowed to have decks are the ones that live on the first floor? go on back to whatever state you left…there are REAL problems in the world. your “shaded deck” on High St isn’t a contender.
There’s something shady about this story.
It will all come to light soon enough.
Very funny! Good humor. Somebody’s gonna get ‘decked’.
I’m glad I don’t live in Camden what a bunch of clowns down there.
Why waste money on a lawsuit? Go buy a freakin’ house with lots of land and no neighbors. Problem solved! Just beware of the wild animals that may decide to take a dump in YOUR front yard. I don’t think it is possible to sue them for disrupting the chemical composition of YOUR soil though…..but at least poop won’t take away YOUR sunshine! :)
Aren’t there condo associations that have to approve these things before construction can begin?
Hey, at least you aren’t living in the flickering shadow of a wind turbine.
I hope they win, I like the sun coming through the windows. Imagine people spilling crap on their deck and it landing on yours.
What I want to know is. Why didn’t the condos not already have decks?
Are you sure that’s what you want to know, or is the exact opposite what you really want to know?
What he means is which part of which deck were built or built not by which party before other parts were added, and if so, why not?
The Rifkinds themselves got a building permit just a year ago. Maybe their neighbor got deck envy. http://www.camdenmaine.gov/vertical/sites/%7B12179FA6-CABE-432E-868D-862BE81D9F03%7D/uploads/November_2011_permit_reports.pdf
Even if they had a town permit, they didn’t have permission to trespass, or to damage the other deck during the installation of their own.
Agreed 100%. That, for me, was the most shocking part of it.
Also, I want to add that no matter where people are from, if they own property in Maine they are paying taxes and thus contributing to our state. Sometimes they pay more taxes than native Mainers make in a year. To suggest these people’s problems are not worthy of consideration because they are from away is narrow-minded and foolish.
The contractor is not guilty of simple trespass, but criminal trespass, since he was told beforehand that he was not allowed on the Rifkinds’ deck.
that depends on the condo rules. is everything on the exterior considered common area? also, why would any floor have more right to attach a deck then another, unless it was in their contracts. I definitely support individual property rights, but when you buy in as part of an association you give up some of those rights. without knowing the details,wouldn’t it also be funny if the one suing was on the second floor and had already done this to the person on the first floor, now they complain when it comes back around.
I’m sure you’ve read all the covenants and other legal language applicable to this condo association to make such a bold statement.
someone told me a long time ago that most folks in Camden have more money than brains, and this proves it. LOL.
With a little Maine ingenuity they could have solved this problem. Like building a deck in Wyoming! Just saying.
It seems petty, but I like my sun too. I’d be bummed, don’t know if I’d go to court, but I’d be bummed big time.
Only in Camden would there be someone who sues because of the sun.
Can’t understand why vitamin D was not listed in the suet . Get a new lawyer.
That’s why condos suck……neighbors have to smell each others…….poo.
Now they can enclose their deck and have a porch.
Democrats doing what democrats do best….(raising taxes notwithstanding) file frivolous lawsuits!
Sounds like a tax increase is needed for this “class” of people – they obviously have too much to spend.
I think the bigger part of this story is actually the trespassing and the damage done to the deck and siding. As for the sunshine now gone from their deck and windows, I’d be pretty upset about that too – sunshine through the windows in the winter helps the heating bill a little bit – they’ve also lost the enjoyment of sitting in the sun during the warmer days. I am curious if there is a condo association, and if so, did the owners have permission to build the deck, were there any meetings to discuss it, and were the plaintiffs at those meetings?
blocking the sunlight ? Thought i was in the comic section there for a moment …geeeeez !
This always reminds me of the CONDO ASSOCIATION episodes in SEINFELD; and the draconian strangulations in condo agreements that require lawyers to negotiate.
Much is missing here, esp. the part about modifying his deck without permission—uh, see pg. 43, section r.
So, they got a permit to build…doesn’t someone have to check the plans and confer with the neighbors if it affects them? And there had to be a condo board and covenants. Otherwise you just bought an apartment not a condo. I’m mighty suspicious that there is more to this story then the BDN is reporting or knows
I’d almost say it’s unbelievable, but with the stunts people pull in coastal Maine…nope, not surprising at all!
Lawyers make their money on immature people who can’t talk to each other. I hope all the lawyers make a bundle on this case.
Camden, who would have guessed.
Oh, so they can have a deck but their neighbors cannot? Hmmm, greedy much?
One more reason NOT to buy a condo………..