JUDICIAL DEVELOPMENTS

December 2009

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N.Y. Supreme Court Requires Riparian Right Owners to Share Equally with One Another
Errico v. Weinstein

Four families, the Erricos, Weinsteins, Russos, and Aramallas, are each owners of property parallel to the Mandalay Canal, in the Town of Hempstead, Wantagh, New York. Because the Mandalay Canal is only 110 feet wide, the neighbors need to cooperate with one another in order that they can each get their boats in and out their respective docks. The dispute here arose in 2004 when the Weinsteins docked their 36-foot boat perpendicular to the shoreline, rather than parallel to the shoreline, as the other families had done. Paul J. Errico filed suit against the Weinsteins in order to compel them to remove the pilings that they had installed and to enjoin them from docking their boat vertical to the shore, as opposed to perpendicular to it. The New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division confirmed riparian rights of the parties after reviewing the town code and taking expert testimony and allocated those rights accordingly.