Justin Theroux’s years-long NYC apartment building legal saga in limbo after ‘nuisance’ neighbor dies
Justin Theroux’s years-long legal saga with his “nuisance” New York City neighbor has been thrown into limbo after the downstairs resident died last month, new court papers reveal.
Theroux, 52, had been embroiled in lawsuits against Norman Resnicow since 2017 when “The Leftovers” actor sued his Greenwich Village neighbor for allegedly trespassing on their shared rooftop terrace, killing his ivy, spying on him and harassing him.
But Resnicow, 76, a retired real estate attorney, died on May 4, according to a letter his lawyer submitted to the court last month.
This automatically put all the cases Resnicow was involved in on hold until his wife Barbara Resnicow is appointed as the executor of his estate to take over the litigation, said the letter, filed by attorney Peter Levine in three Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuits.
“Right now all cases are at a standstill and cannot begin to move forward until Barbara is officially appointed as executor by the surrogates court and then is substituted as a party in Norman’s place in all the pending litigations,” Levine told The Post Thursday. “That’s the next procedural step.”
Levine declined to say what the cause of Resnicow’s death was.
Resnicow filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in March after he was ordered by a judge to move out of the 71 Washington Place building he shares with Theroux, and ordered to pay legal fees, which the co-op pegged at $640,000.
He wrote in an affidavit from March that he planned to move out of the three-bedroom, 2,420-square-foot duplex by Sept. 30.
The condo was put up for sale for $4 million and Barbara is currently still living in her home of 20 years while it’s on the market, Levine confirmed to The Post.
Resnicow was tied up in four lawsuits linked to his disputes with Theroux and other residents in the building.
Theroux claimed in his suit that Resnicow in 2015 launched a campaign of harassment against him and then-wife Jennifer Aniston when they started $1 million renovations of their second-floor Manhattan pad.
A judge in that case found Resnicow liable on trespass and nuisance claims and a trial was slated to start in April to determine the damages that he would have to pay Theroux — until the bankruptcy automatically halted the proceedings.
Another suit, filed by the building’s co-op, ended with a Jan. 16 ruling evicting the Resnicows and ordering them to pay legal fees.
The co-op board said they were owed $640,000 in legal costs, but Resnicow had been in the process of seeking to have the tab lowered.
Resnicow also lost a case he brought against the co-op seeking to dissolve the board and was ordered to pay legal fees in that case as well, which the board claimed cost them $127,000.
At the time of his death, Resnicow had been in negotiations to settle another case with an insurance company that was covering some of the litigation.
It is unclear what will happen with all the cases, including the bankruptcy case, once Barbara is appointed executor of her late husband’s estate.
“We were saddened to hear of Mr. Resnicow’s passing and have extended our condolences to his family,” Theroux lawyer Eric Sherman told The Post.
Sherman declined to comment on whether Theroux would drop the case against Resnicow once it picks back up again.
