Preview:

[*1]


Decided on August 5, 2004
District Court, Nassau County

17791/01
TROISI & MARKOWITZ, P.C (ATTORNEYS FOR PLAINTIFF'S) SUSSMAN & SUSSMAN, P.C. (ATTORNEYS FOR DEFENDANT) David A. Gross, J.
In this action for intentional infliction of emotional distress, conversion and trespass, the court includes the following facts at length in it's decision because only with a full disclosure of these terrifying and horrifying facts can the award granted below be justifed. Some time after interposing his answer and appearing for depositions the defendant defaulted and this inquest was ordered.
FINDINGS of FACT

In July 1998 Mr. and Mrs. Ahrens, along with their son M, 4 years old, and their daughter K, 2 years old, lived in the downstairs apartment of their two family home in the suburban village of Seaford in Nassau County. Young K had been born with a terribly disfiguring facial tumor that had to be treated with a series of surgical operations and her unfortunate condition was well known throughout the neighbor hood. Other than K's medical condition, however, the Ahrens were a warm and happy family.
Mr. and Mrs. Ahrens had rented the upstairs apartment to the defendant Frank Stalzer and his wife Michelle. The Stalzers had no children of their own. Although not "friends", the Ahrens and the Stalzers had an amicable landlord/tenant relationship that, as of July 1998, had continued for five consecutive years. Mrs. Ahrens recalled that they would say "hello" and "goodbye" to each other as they passed but they did not socialize any further than that during the period of the tenancy.
One day in that month the Ahrens informed the Stalzers that the Ahrens needed to incorporate the upstairs apartment into theirs to accommodate their growing children's needs and that the Stalzers were going to have to find another place to live. The Stalzers understood, acquiesced, and vacated the apartment several months later with no animosity or disagreement with the Ahrens. [*2]
Sometime in November of that year, just before Thanksgiving, Mrs. Ahrens received a telephone call from Mr. Stalzer. He told her that he needed to meet with her and speak with her privately. Uncomfortable with this request, Mrs. Ahrens politely demurred. Thinking this telephone conversation rather unusual, Mrs. Ahrens immediately telephoned her husband at work and told him what had happened. Soon thereafter Mr. Stalzer called again and repeated his request. Again Mrs. Ahrens denied him. Mr. Stalzer then asked that Mrs. Ahrens not mention his calls to either Mr. Ahrens or Mrs. Stalzer. Mrs. Ahrens responded by informing Mr. Stalzer that she kept no secrets from her husband and that, in fact, she had already told her husband of Mr. Stalzer's earlier call. Mrs. Ahrens again telephoned her husband and related to him the contents of this second call. Mr. Ahrens suggested that perhaps Mr. Stalzer was having some sort of difficulty with Mrs. Stalzer and was looking for another woman with whom he could discuss it. The Ahrens had no further discussion regarding Mr. Stalzers' calls.
In December of 1998, the Ahrens family mailed out holiday greetings to all of their family, friends and acquaintances, just as they had done in prior years. The greeting was of the type that told of what the family had accomplished during the year and their aspirations for the new year to come. One of the details the Ahrens' holiday greeting mentioned was of how the family was going to travel to Little Rock, Arkansas in January so that little K could have yet another surgical procedure on her face. Included on the Ahrens' mailing list was Mr. And Mrs. Stalzer at their new address.
On January 16, 1999 the Ahrens family flew out to Little Rock and, early on January 18, little K had her operation. Later that day K was discharged and she and her family embarked on their 8 hour trip home. They arrived home close to midnight on a cold and rainy night. As they approached the home, Mr. Ahrens carrying a sleeping M on his shoulder and Mrs. Ahrens carrying the heavily sedated and still bandaged little girl, they noticed the front door was slightly ajar. Mr. Ahrens turned on the lights and placed the boy, still sleeping, on the couch. As he looked around he saw that the house was in a shambles with water everywhere, ceilings collapsed, walls buckling and black spray painted graffiti scrawled on the walls. Fearing for his family's safety he grabbed up the boy and screamed to his wife "someone's in the house!" Mr. Ahrens escorted his wife and children to a neighbors' house, called the police and returned to his home. A more thorough search revealed that someone had plugged the drains in all the sinks and tubs and left the water on throughout the house. The water had seeped across the floors and cascaded down throughout the lower floors. Their fully finished basement had more than three feet of water and all of their belongings had either sunk or were floating about.
Any possibility that the Ahrens were a chance victim of this criminal mischief was quickly erased, however, once Mr. and Mrs. Ahrens and the investigating police officers literally read the handwriting on the wall. "[Mr. Ahrens] YOU THINK YOU CAN FUCK ME AND RUN AWAY YOU FUCKED THE WRONG GIRL", "[Mr. Ahrens] YOU TOLD ME YOU WEREN'T MARRIED" , "SEE HOW YOUR WIFE LIKES THIS" and "[Mr. Ahrens] EXPLAIN THIS TO YOUR WIFE", were a clear indication to the police, at least, that Mr. Ahrens had been having an affair, that it had somehow ended badly and that a scorned ex-girlfriend was the culprit. Mr. Ahrens vehemently denied this theory and denied that he had ever had an affair. He did admit, however, that [*3]he could understand why someone, including the police and, more importantly, his own wife, viewing the evidence, might think otherwise.
If things weren't bad enough, Mrs. Ahren's inspection of her ruined home revealed that her dresser drawer had been opened and a certain bra and panties had been removed. To her further horror she discovered that, of her many photo albums she kept, the six that contained the pictures of her children from the time of their births to the time of their baptisms had been stolen! Mrs. Ahrens was absolutely traumatized.
The police interviewed Mr. Ahrens for hours at the police station. According to Mr. Ahrens, they were steadfast in their belief in their original theory. They questioned him, they challenged him, they played "Good cop, bad cop" threatening him with the possibility of criminal prosecution and, ultimately, they refused accept his denial and concluded their investigation by telling him that he would give them the name of his ex-mistress when he was ready.
In the weeks and months that followed, disbelieving her husband and fearing another attack Mrs. Ahrens and the children stayed at a neighbor's home. Mr. Ahrens did his best to clean up the house and stayed there, all the while protesting his innocence. Mr. Ahrens continued to ask the police for help, but, getting little from them, he took time off from work to try to investigate for himself. All to no avail.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Ahrens was mentally and emotionally wrecked. She trusted no one, was afraid to be by herself or leave her children, could not sleep and could not eat. Her home was in ruins, her marriage destroyed and her family life was gone. Under all this pressure she still had to take care of her ailing daughter and now distressed son. Mrs. Ahrens wisely sought the help of various physicians and therapists who prescribed for her a plethora of medications. Ultimately, however, her problems were caused by external forces and the failure by the police to apprehend the perpetrator continued to put pressure on Mrs. Ahren's mind.
In early April of 1998 Mr. Ahrens, obsessed with finding the real criminal and proving himself innocent, convinced the police to obtain the records of incoming calls to the Ahren's household on and around the date of the crime. The police finally acceded to his request and, low and behold, discovered that some 15 calls were placed to the Ahrens' home telephone on the day that the home was attacked. All fifteen calls originated from the new home of Mr. Stalzer! (Why the police had not previously made what seems to be a basic investigative inquiry earlier was not explained.)
With this information in hand Mr. Ahrens was able to convince Mrs. Ahrens that he had been telling the truth all along. Mrs. Ahrens and the children agreed to move back in to their home. All was far from resolved in the Ahrens household, however. Mrs. Ahrens distrust of Mr. Ahrens turned to guilt and Mr. Ahrens could not help resenting Mrs. Ahren's loss of faith in him. Mrs. Ahrens refused to be left alone at night causing Mr. Ahrens to pass on all opportunities to work overtime and on job promotions that would require him to travel. Little M developed a fear of strangers and [*4]was very uncomfortable with having anyone enter the home. The idea of a Santa Clause, Easter Bunny or Tooth Fairy coming to visit set the boy to tears and continues to this day.
While the evidence of the telephone calls was enough to convince the Ahrens of the identity of their attacker, they were told by the police that it was not enough to arrest Mr. Stalzer. Mr. And Mrs. Ahrens continued to badger the police for weeks and, finally, on April 18, 1999 the police relented and called Mr. Stalzer in for questioning. In front of the police Mr. Stalzer made a full confession.
Rather than paraphrase his words, the confession was word for word as follows:
On 01-16-99 at about 5:30 P.M. I started making telephone calls to [Mrs. Ahren's] home. I called her home telephone number [DELETED] from about 5:50 p.m. to about 2:00 a.m. on the seventeenth of Jan. 1999. I called and knew that [Mr. and Mrs. Ahrens] were not home. After I called from my home [DELETED ] I left my home over to [the Ahrens'] home [DELETED]. I know the address because I lived there in the upstairs apartment with my wife for five years. I got out of my car and parked my car a block away and walked over to [Mrs. Ahren's] house. I used a screw driver to pry open the sliding (sic) glass door leading into the upstairs bedroom. I walked into the bedroom and went to the dresser drawer and took out a few panties and bras. I then went over to the bed, lifted the mattress and took a shit on the [box spring]. I then cleaned my ass with the panties and bras and put them on the [box spring] and put the mattress back. From there I went down to the basement and got some spray paint from behind the boiler. I went back upstairs and began to spray paint the upstairs walls. In the bedroom I wrote on the walls : "[Mr. Ahrens] EXPLAIN THIS TO YOUR WIFE. . . YOU THINK YOU CAN FUCK ME AND GET AWAY WITH THIS." On the out side hall wall I wrote in black spray paint "[Mr. Ahrens] YOU TOLD ME YOU WEREN'T MARRIED". After spraying the walls in that black spray paint I went down stairs and looked for some family photo albums. I looked around and found five to six albums in the cabinet near the T.V. in the living room. I took the albums and put them near the door on the floor. I then went up stairs and put on the water in the up stairs bathroom which is between two bedrooms. I went down stairs and put the water on in the main floor bathroom and kitchen. I just left the water running, I was just pissed off, I liked her a lot. I just wanted to be with her. After leaving all the water running in the house I picked up the photo albums and walked out of the front door and shut the door behind me. I walked to my car that I parked a block away and I went home. Out of five or six photo albums I took I only have two albums left. I only wanted pictures of [Mrs.
Ahrens], I really liked her. Right now I have one photo album at my house and another at my job in Valley Stream. . . .
Frank Stalzer was charged with Criminal Mischief and Petit Larceny, an E Felony and an A Misdemeanor, respectively. On January 19, 2009 Frank Stalzer pled guilty to both counts and was subsequently sentenced to six months in the Nassau County Correctional Facility. Four months later he was released and, presently lives a few short miles from the home of the Ahrens family.
At the inquest Mr. Ahrens explained that he would be only to happy to pack up and move from the state but that Mrs. Ahrens feels that if they move they would loose the benefit of having [*5]neighbors that would recognize Mr. Stalzer and would report his presence in the neighborhood to them. Mrs. Ahrens still suffers, now five years after the attack, from severe emotional distress and broke down crying several times during the inquest. Mr. Ahrens tried to remain stalwart throughout the hearing, however it was clearly apparent that he too had been severely emotionally affected by their experience.
This court finds that the Ahrens family has suffered and continues to suffer through nothing short of a nightmare. Reminiscent of the movie "Cape Fear" there is no amount of money that will ever make this family whole.
Frank Stalzer evidently thought long and hard to come up with exactly the right words and the best way to terrorize and permanently traumatize and tear apart this family. If ever there was a case that warranted sanctions for willful wanton or malicious behavior this is that case.
Based on the facts set forth above, Plaintiffs Edward and Lori Ahrens seek: compensatory damages and/or exemplary damages for the intentional infliction of emotional distress: compensatory and/or punitive damages for conversion of the photo albums; and/or compensatory and/or punitive damages for trespass. In addition, plaintiff Edward Ahrens seeks compensatory damages for loss of consortium.
POINT I
PLAINTIFFS EDWARD AND LORI AHRENS ARE
ENTITLED TO COMPENSATORY DAMAGES AND PUNITIVE DAMAGES FOR THE INTENTIONAL INFLICTION OF EMOTIONAL DISTRESS
The law is well established that a tortfeasor may be liable for the intentional infliction of emotional distress. In Fischer v. Maloney, 43 N.Y.2d 553, 402 N.Y.S.2d 991 (1978), the Court of Appeals adopted the formulation of the Restatement (Second) of Torts as to the standard for establishing a cause of action for intentional infliction of emotional distress. In Fischer, the Court of Appeals held that "[o]ne who by extreme and outrageous conduct intentionally or recklessly causes severe emotional distress to another is subject to liability for such emotional distress." Id. at 557, 402 N.Y.S.2d at 991 (quoting Prosser, Torts [4th ed],

Download 2004_50864.pdf

New York Law