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Stopping a Gym’s Noise Interruption at a Television Studio

This past month, Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. spoke with a Vice President at [Fortune 500 company] who manages the subject television studio that formerly complained it was unable to do its job effectively as a result of the noise interruptions during celebrity interviews. During this call, she explained the problem had been expunged, she no longer hears any noise or vibrations, and that the “mission is accomplished.”

The Problem

[Fortune 500 company] came to Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. to solve a serious noise nuisance: [Company’s] Fitness Studio gym, located directly above the client’s live-action performance studio, was creating severe noise and sound vibrations that were greatly affecting the ability of the client to conduct and record interviews of its A-list celebrity guests.

The noise emanating from the gym, which included the sudden and frequent dropping of heavy weights, was so severe that the interviewers and the guests were visibly startled and distracted on stage during the recorded interviews.

Equally troubling, and dangerous, the severe vibrations caused by the dropping of the heavy weights caused large portions of the ceiling above the studio to crumble onto the heads of guests in the live audience. Despite the client’s repeated complaints, the owner of the building and the landlord ignored the client’s complaints and failed to address the unbearable and dangerous conditions caused by the gym’s activities.

The client turned to Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. to take Landlord Developer 1 and Landlord Developer 2 head-on.

The Proposed Solution and Solution

After observing the noise and sound vibration firsthand, and investigating the layout of the Blink gym, Adam Leitman Bailey’s attorneys engaged an expert acoustician to perform a variety of sound and vibration tests in the studio. Such tests confirmed Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C.’s hypothesis that the noise and sound vibrations emanating from the Blink gym were a clear violation of the Noise Code.

Working collaboratively with representatives of Related and Vornado Realty Trust, and each of their sound engineers, Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. advised Blink regarding how the gym could be reconfigured to mitigate the disturbing noise and sound vibrations in the studio.

Specifically, Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. recommended that the area of the Blink gym dedicated to the lifting of heavy weights be switched with the treadmill areas of the gym.

In addition, Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. also advised Landlord Developer 1 and Landlord Developer 2 that the flooring and padding directly above the studio could be modified to dramatically increase the absorption of the vibrations from the dropping of heavy and light weights into the studio.

After lengthy negotiations, we received the following email:

All,

We sent [Landlord] our plan of action on Friday evening, anticipating they would share it out. We are making the below changes to the club layout tomorrow night:

  • The current open, functional area will be filled in with non-impact cardio equipment. That area will no longer be available for any strength exercises.
    • A new functional area will be created on the [Street] side of the club.
  • We will shift the heavy dumb bells as far toward [Street] (and away from the studio) as possible.
  • The area closer to the studio will be filled in with Smith machines, which are no-impact.These changes will effectively re-create the layout before changes were made last November. As we learned in our meeting, [studio] was not experiencing noise issues prior to that time. Finally, for the time being while these changes are being made, we will add payroll to have a monitor available during [studio]’s recording hours to prevent weights from being dropped over the studio. With these changes plus the previous addition of the 2.5″ rubber floor, the noise level in [studio]’s space should be even lower than pre-November levels when [studio] was not experiencing noise issues.

The client and landlord agreed and implemented most of Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C’s and its expert’s recommendations.

The client is now able to operate its performance studio and record its live interviews in safety and without any interruption from the gym activities above it.

Adam Leitman Bailey and Joanna C. Peck of Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. represented the Fortune 500 company in stopping the noise interruption and allowing the television studio to continue its business of conducting celebrity interviewing and programming without distraction or disruption.

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