And you thought cigarettes were expensive.
An Upper East Side man has agreed to fork over $2,000 to his next-door neighbors any time he smokes a cigar inside his apartment.
In papers filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, Harry Lysons says he’ll be on the hook for 2K every time the smell of cigar smoke wafts from his apartment into the home of Russell and Amanda Poses – and if he doesn’t pay up within 15 days, he’ll be on the hook for an additional $1,500 per violation.
Despite the hefty smoking surcharge, Lysons might be getting off slightly cheap – the deal brings an end to a $2 million lawsuit the Poses filed against him last month, complaining that Lysons was stinking up their East 79th Street apartment with “foul and noxious odors.”
Lysons’ lawyer, Jeffrey Marcus, said “They could have put in a million dollar fine and it would have been fine with us, because my client won’t be smoking any cigars in the apartment.”
He said his client is a “gentleman” who was willing to give up his right to smoke in his apartment to be a good neighbor — but he’s not giving up his stogies.
“I think when you’re in your 70s you’re entitled to some of the remaining pleasures in life. He’s earned the right to smoke a cigar and have some brandy at night. He’ll just have the cigar on the street,” Marcus said.
The Poses’ lawyer, John Churneftsky, said he was glad both sides were able to make peace so quickly, which he credited in part to “reasonable attorneys on both sides.”
He said his understanding was that Lysons has no intentions of quitting — he’ll just smoke his stogies somewhere else.
“He’s still going to continue to enjoy his cigars and brandy, just not in the apartment,” Churneftsky said.
Lysons could not reached, and his lawyer did not immediately return a call for comment.
Under the terms of the court-approved deal, Lysons’ apartment will have to pass a smell test if the Poses say there’s the scent of smoke in their two bedroom condo.
“Each party hereto shall afford the other party access to their apartment, upon reasonable notice for the purpose of verifying that the plaintiffs’ apartment smells from cigar smoke which emanated from defendants’ smoking cigars in the prohibited areas,” the settlement says.
If Lysons challenges the finding and they can’t come to a resolution, the two sides can then go back to court – although both sides will try to keep that from happening.
“The parties agree that a simple ‘knock on the door’ to discuss any complaint that the parties may have concerning cigar smoke . . . would be preferable to continuing to litigate this matter,” the deal says.
The agreement was somewhat of surprise, since Lysons practically had smoke coming out of his ears when The Post asked him about the case last month.
“Oh, you’re kidding me,” he said then. “This has been going on for a year. I thought we rectified it. The Poses are absolutely unreasonable.”
The suit said the smoke was making the Poses six- and three-year-old kids sick, and giving them breathing problems and ear infections.
“It’s pungent enough that you can’t eat dinner,” Russell Poses, a Wall Street equities trader, said at the time.
Churneftsky said his clients had tried working their differences out amicably, “but after 18 months they felt they had to begin litigation.”
The settlement agreement says everyone involved will now play nice.
“[H]aving amicably resolved this unfortunate dispute and in the spirit of being better neighbors in the future the parties have agreed to be cordial, polite and respectful to each other,” the agreement says.