Legal Question in Civil Litigation in New York

2 years ago we decided with our neighbor to go in half on building a pasture and remodeling the back portion of his barn as a run in shelter for our horses. As we were good friends we also gave him a 2 year old gelding as part of the deal and payed to have him transporteded to our neighbors property when the pasture was finished. When he approached us about going in on the pasture it was under the condition that we would have use of the pasture, for our horses, for the life of the pasture as we owned half of it. Since this time our neighbor moved his girlfriend into his house. That's when the trouble started. Since she has moved in we started having problems with her messing around with our horses, feeding them all sorts of junk against our wishes, getting drunk late at night and going out and messing with then (very dangerous for her as well as our horses), but the worst was that she got drunk last summer and cut our horse's mane and tail off wothout our permission or knowledge. When I saw what she had done I told our neighbor enough was enough, either he kept her away from our horses as we had warned them both over and over, or we were going to sue for the money we put into the horse for him, the pasture, the cost of moving our horses, and damages for what she had already done to them by cutting off their hair. That seemed to do the trick as she left our horses alone for the remainder of the year up untill a week ago. When we went down to check on our Shetland pony we found that she had done it again! She cut his bangs all the way off!!!! I had had it. I went up to her door and yelled at her telling her that she had been warned before and that she needed to stay the heck away from our horses. Well now she is threatening to leave our neighbor if he doesn't make us move our horses out and he has only given us 2 weeks to do it. Our neighbor fully admitts she is in the wrong and that he is going back on our deal but he is afraid she is going to leave with his kids. (She controls him in everyway with that) My question is: Can he force us to move our horses in 2 weeks? And if so, can we sue for the cost of boarding and transporting our horses while we build a new pasture, as well as for the cost of the pasture we already built? We also performed half of the labor of putting the pasture up. Another thing, all the supplies for the pasture and run-in were purchased under our name and account as we are tax exempt, so we do have a record of everything we spent. We live in New York State. Thanks.


Asked on 3/31/10, 7:13 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Michael Markowitz Michael A. Markowitz, PC

Q. Can he force us to move our horses in 2 weeks?

A. No. Pursuant to the facts as I understand it, you entered into a tenancy agreement with your neighbor. Consideration for the tenancy was money for building a pasture and remodeling the back portion of his barn, and delivery of a 2 year old gelding. Since this is a tenancy agreement, you may not evict on 2 weeks notice. I would think he needs a warrant of eviction.

Mike.

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Answered on 4/06/10, 4:53 am


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