Last fall, a woman from British Columbia unsuccessfully sued her downstairs neighbor for noise pollution. Now, her attempt to sue her upstairs neighbor for excessive noise levels also failed.

BC’s Civil Resolution Tribunal dismissed Linda Woo’s claim for $5,000 in damages for lost productivity and medical expenses caused by her neighbor Lorenzo Bruno. Instead, the court ordered Woo to pay Bruno $50 in damages for her “inappropriate banging on the ceiling and slamming of cabinets” in response to the noises.

The dispute began shortly after Bruno moved into the building in July 2022. Since then, Woo has filed more than 300 noise complaints with the building council and police. On two occasions, police described the noises as “simply going about his life,” according to the tribunal’s decision last week.

Woo then filed a lawsuit claiming that her upstairs neighbor was making “unreasonable noise” almost daily, including stomping, moving furniture, loud guests, and running appliances during quiet hours.

Bruno filed a countersuit, arguing that Woo’s constant complaints to building management and the police amounted to harassment for which he was entitled to compensation.

The court had dismissed a similar $5,000 claim filed by Woo last October, claiming that the noise from her downstairs neighbor had violated her dignity, deprived her of the enjoyment of her home and caused her emotional and physical suffering.

“Simply no noise”

To support her case against Bruno, Woo presented audio and video recordings of the alleged noise coming from Bruno’s apartment and instructed the court to listen to the recordings “with earplugs and at maximum volume,” according to court member Megan Stewart.

“Some of the recordings contain no sound at all, suggesting that the files may be corrupted or that there was simply no sound,” Stewart wrote.

“I find that most recordings that contain noise are very faint or muffled individual sounds that seem to reflect everyday life or a quiet hum in the background.”

Woo also submitted recordings of telephone conversations with the police and officer attendance reports. However, according to the court, “none of the reports mentioned excessive noise.”

In a recorded conversation with police, Woo admitted that in response to alleged noise coming from Bruno’s suite, she “poked” at her ceiling and slammed her kitchen cabinet “so he would understand” what kind of disturbance she was having.

“I am of the opinion that this intentional noise was probably loud enough to cause a disturbance,” Stewart wrote, ordering Woo to pay Bruno $50 for the disturbance.

The court was also unable to confirm Woo’s claim that the noises coming from Bruno’s apartment constituted a nuisance.

“While I accept that the noises Ms. Woo hears are disturbing to her, I do not agree that she has established on an objective basis that those noises rise to the level of negligence or nuisance,” Stewart wrote.

“Living in an apartment building entails a certain amount of give and take among neighbors when it comes to noise and other potential nuisances,” she concluded, dismissing the lawsuit.