EXCLUSIVEGrinning Justin Theroux is seen leaving court as he demands $5MILLION from 'Peeping Tom' neighbor who 'put me through seven years of torture' as he 'spied' on actor and then-wife Jennifer Aniston
- Hollywood actor locked in feud with NYC lawyer neighbor Norman Resnicow
- Saga began 2017 when Theroux, then-wife Jennifer Aniston began renovation
- Warring parties arguing over settlement as actor claims 'torture and trauma'
Justin Theroux claims he was put through 'seven years of torture and trauma' during a bitter feud with his elderly neighbor.
The actor is locked in a legal battle with Norman Resnicow, 76, whom he accuses of a campaign of harassment at their Manhattan apartment building.
Resnicow 'made it his twisted sport to bully and intimidate' his neighbor after he began a $1 million renovation of his Greenwich Village pad in 2017.
He is accused of spying on Theroux, 52, and his then-wife Jennifer Aniston 'like a Peeping Tom', trespassing on his roof terrace, and poisoning an ivy that grew there.
Judge Gerald Lebovits largely found in Theroux's favor last August, but left much of the nuisance and trespassing claims for a jury to decide.
![Justin Theroux all smiles after leaving court in New York on Wednesday where he claimed he was put through 'seven years of torture and trauma' during a bitter feud with his neighbor](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/01/18/17/80179431-12976033-image-a-1_1705598164287.jpg)
Justin Theroux all smiles after leaving court in New York on Wednesday where he claimed he was put through 'seven years of torture and trauma' during a bitter feud with his neighbor
![The actor is locked in a legal battle with Norman Resnicow, 76, whom he accuses of a campaign of harassment at their Manhattan apartment building](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/01/18/17/80188117-12976033-The_actor_is_locked_in_a_legal_battle_with_Norman_Resnicow_76_wh-a-25_1705599774601.jpg)
The actor is locked in a legal battle with Norman Resnicow, 76, whom he accuses of a campaign of harassment at their Manhattan apartment building
![The Leftovers star has been locked in a bitter battle with Resnicow since 2017 when, during his marriage to Jennifer Aniston, he embarked on a $1 million renovation of his residence](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/01/18/17/15070492-12976033-The_Leftovers_star_has_been_locked_in_a_bitter_battle_with_Resni-a-26_1705600127849.jpg)
The Leftovers star has been locked in a bitter battle with Resnicow since 2017 when, during his marriage to Jennifer Aniston, he embarked on a $1 million renovation of his residence
The pair met at the New York County Supreme Court on Wednesday in a largely failed attempt to hash out a settlement and avoid a costly trial.
Theroux's lawyer Eric Sherman rejected Resnicow's offer of a 'sincere apology' to make the whole lawsuit go away and sought millions in damages.
'To use a crude analogy, my client's arms were cut off and he'd like them back now,' he told the court.
'He has been put through seven years of pure torture and stress, and he wants to be made whole.'
Sherman did not present a specific figure, but Theroux in recent filings demanded at least $4.58 million - a massive increase on the $370,000 he wanted in 2017 before the dispute blew up into a years-long saga.
'An apology is nice and welcome, but he wants his money back... he wants to be returned to the position he was in before this whole fiasco started,' Sherman continued.
'An apology is for something you've done wrong, and he wants that wrong righted back to where he was before this seven-year odyssey began.
'It was a very unpleasant seven years and it continues to this day. I've seen what this has done to my client.'
Judge Lebovits said Theroux was 'asking for something a court cannot award', which Sherman agreed with.
'There are things that can salve the wound, and that's the financial part of this. You can't un-ring a bell of torture over the past seven years, or trauma,' he said.
![Theroux leaves at the New York County Supreme Court on Wednesday with his lawyer Eric Sherman (left) after a largely failed attempt to hash out a settlement and avoid a costly trial](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/01/18/17/80179489-12976033-Theroux_leaves_at_the_New_York_County_Supreme_Court_on_Wednesday-a-25_1705600127839.jpg)
Theroux leaves at the New York County Supreme Court on Wednesday with his lawyer Eric Sherman (left) after a largely failed attempt to hash out a settlement and avoid a costly trial
![He wandered along the Center Street in the 24F Manhattan freeze, flanked by his lawyers, until he found a taxi to clamber into](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/01/18/17/80179483-12976033-He_wandered_along_the_Center_Street_in_the_24F_Manhattan_freeze_-a-30_1705600127908.jpg)
He wandered along the Center Street in the 24F Manhattan freeze, flanked by his lawyers, until he found a taxi to clamber into
Theroux is seeking both compensatory and punitive damages, plus reimbursement of his legal fees and various home expenses incurred by Resnicow's actions.
Resnicow's lawyer Peter Levine said the claim, when added up, would be well over $5 million and negotiations had not gone well so far.
'I've seen the demands go from preposterous, to absurd, to ridiculous,' he said in his typically exuberant style.
Resnicow last month finally put his apartment up for sale for $4 million after the building's co-op board sued to force him out and legal fees mounted.
Sherman said Theroux previously filed a claim for $788,000 in compensatory damages, which didn't include the separate claim for trespassing.
That claim, on which Judge Lebovits also found Resnicow liable, totaled about $100,000, according to previous legal documents.
There was also $100,000 in out-of-pocket expenses to add to the compensatory damages, and four times the nearly $1 million total in punitive damages.
Sherman said Theroux would would then accept an unspecified discount on the entire number as they were 'not seeking 100 cents in the dollar'.
The evidence, if presented to a jury, 'will not play well for Mr Resnicow, nor should it', he said.
Theroux and his lawyers met with the judge behind closed doors to outline how much money they wanted and why, after which Levine did the same to discuss it.
Sherman could be heard during a break in proceedings telling Theroux that it was a 'long shot' a jury awarded the damages they wanted, and $2 to $2.5 million was more likely.
![Theroux in recent filings demanded at least $4.58 million - a massive increase on the $370,000 he wanted in 2017 before the dispute blew up into a years-long saga](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/01/18/17/80188639-12976033-Theroux_in_recent_filings_demanded_at_least_4_58_million_a_massi-a-24_1705600127726.jpg)
Theroux in recent filings demanded at least $4.58 million - a massive increase on the $370,000 he wanted in 2017 before the dispute blew up into a years-long saga
![The battle went into another round when Theroux filed a response, in which he included a photo of what he claimed showed a pyjama-clad Resnicow harassing builders on his property](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/01/18/17/80179471-12976033-The_battle_went_into_another_round_when_Theroux_filed_a_response-a-28_1705600127857.jpg)
The battle went into another round when Theroux filed a response, in which he included a photo of what he claimed showed a pyjama-clad Resnicow harassing builders on his property
![Among the many allegations against Resnicow is that he trespassed on to Theroux's side of the terrace they share - as this image filed with the court shows](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/01/18/17/80190023-12976033-image-a-38_1705600766948.jpg)
Among the many allegations against Resnicow is that he trespassed on to Theroux's side of the terrace they share - as this image filed with the court shows
Judge Lebovits afterwards said the sides were still far apart and he had suggested a figure to Levine to take to his client that was lower than what Theroux wanted.
He said there was a 'remote possibility' Resnicow would at least engage with it, and if not the case would go to trial as early as March.
Theroux, clad in a white shirt, black suit jacket and skinny jeans, and a narrow black tie and aviators, said 'nothing' as he left court when asked if he had any thoughts about the hearing.
He wandered along the Center Street in the 24F Manhattan freeze, flanked by his lawyers, until he found a taxi to clamber into.
The neighbors have been at each other's throats since Theroux and Aniston started a major renovation of his $4.2 million apartment in 2017.
Resnicow demanded he spend $30,000 soundproofing the floor, which is above his own apartment, to which he claimed Theroux 'exploded in out-of-control anger'.
Theroux sued him for $350,000 for interfering in his renovations through bullying and intimidation and harassing construction workers.
Resnicow then filed his own lawsuit against Theroux for harassment, bad construction and his yowling dogs, demanding he pay to soundproof his apartment.
He claimed he suffered from leakage and mold ever since Theroux started his apartment renovations, and endured a decade of loud noise.
'Especially the years of endless day and night barking, yowling and crying of the several rescue dogs Theroux left for several years in the apartment after he de-camped for California (with those sad, isolated, lonely dogs only visited periodically by Theroux's hired (non-resident) dog walker/feeder),' the lawsuit read.
Theroux split his time between his New York apartment and Aniston's sprawling $21 million Bel Air mansion in Los Angeles. The couple married in 2015 and split in 2018.
![Resnicow gave DailyMail.com a tour of his apartment in 2018 to bolster his claims, including storage boxes stacked in the basement labeled with Theroux's name](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/01/18/17/80188119-12976033-Resnicow_gave_DailyMail_com_a_tour_of_his_apartment_in_2018_to_b-a-27_1705600127855.jpg)
Resnicow gave DailyMail.com a tour of his apartment in 2018 to bolster his claims, including storage boxes stacked in the basement labeled with Theroux's name
![He claimed Theroux became cavalier about the whole building and took up basement storage with what he called 'Justin's junk'](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/01/18/17/80179481-12976033-He_claimed_Theroux_became_cavalier_about_the_whole_building_and_-a-29_1705600127902.jpg)
He claimed Theroux became cavalier about the whole building and took up basement storage with what he called 'Justin's junk'
Resnicow claimed a 16 square foot chunk of ceiling collapsed on him in bed one morning while he was recovering from open heart surgery.
'A Theroux workman had removed a chunk of wooden flooring to install piping, and his hand slipped and broke the ceiling above the sleeping Norman,' the lawsuit read.
The claim even alleged the actor many years ago asked him 'to handle – on a discreet basis – the exiting of Theroux's longtime live-in girlfriend from his apartment because Theroux had broken up with her and was living in a hotel'.
This episode 'led Norman to having to deal with the girlfriend's angry sister'.
The battle went into another round when Theroux filed a response, in which he included a photo of what he claimed showed a pajama-clad Resnicow harassing builders on his property.
'Resnicow is observed compulsively involving himself in his neighbors' business,' Sherman said in court at the time.
'Including just days ago when he literally climbed out of his second-floor window wearing pajamas and brazenly trespassed onto Mr Theroux's property to confront Mr Theroux's workers.'
Theroux was in May 2018 granted a temporary restraining order against Resnicow after two residents of the same building signed affidavits on his behalf, claiming Resnicow confronted them in the lobby, brandishing what appeared to be harpoons in each hand.
However, the 'harpoons' turned out to be log rollers.
Resnicow gave DailyMail.com a tour of his apartment in 2018 to bolster his claims, including storage boxes stacked in the basement labeled with Theroux's name.
He said he and Theroux used to be friends years ago but their relationship soured when the actor stopping giving a 'damn about the people who live downstairs'.
He claimed Theroux became cavalier about the whole building and took up basement storage with what he called 'Justin's junk'.
![Resnicow on the terrace he shares with Theroux. He is accused of trespassing onto the actor's side and 'annexing' a chunk of it by putting up a brick wall](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/01/18/17/80179479-12976033-Resnicow_on_the_terrace_he_shares_with_Theroux_He_is_accused_of_-a-34_1705600127934.jpg)
Resnicow on the terrace he shares with Theroux. He is accused of trespassing onto the actor's side and 'annexing' a chunk of it by putting up a brick wall
![](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/01/18/17/80190021-12976033-image-m-37_1705600746519.jpg)
The pair live in a historic, six-storey, 1848 building in Greenwich Village, Manhattan
![Resnicow last month finally put his apartment (pictured) up for sale for $4 million after the building's co-op board sued to force him out and legal fees mounted](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/01/18/18/80190019-12976033-image-a-39_1705601284878.jpg)
Resnicow last month finally put his apartment (pictured) up for sale for $4 million after the building's co-op board sued to force him out and legal fees mounted
Resnicow admitted he never spoke to Aniston, but claimed she looks miserable every time she was seen leaving the apartment.
He hoped her love of Los Angeles would keep them both away.
'Everyone knows Jennifer hated the place. Theroux is acting crummy to her like he did to me,' he said of the news of the couple's split.
Insiders claimed the battle with Resnicow caused tension between the couple, and the actress refused to spend any time at his apartment as a result.
'It's causing a lot of tension between them and Jen's barely travelling to New York any more,' the insider told Grazia at the time.
'She's an incredibly private person and hates the feeling that she might be spied on. It is a huge sticking point for her and Justin.'
Theroux in 2020 dragged Resnicow's own marital problem into the case, branding him a domestic abuser of blazing fights with his wife Barbara.
His lawyers told the court he had recordings of two incidents, both on March 22, two days after Governor Andrew Cuomo put New York in Covid lockdown.
First, Resnicow locked Barbara out of the home because she wasn't wearing a mask, Theroux told the court, and later was in a rage when he called her a 'f**king moron' and 'stupid woman.'
He also claimed Resnicow faked like he wasn't home when he called police on April 30 amid another incident.
Theroux said he had audio of another fight on May 3, where Resnicow repeatedly vowed he would break his wife's teeth if she tried to leave the home.
Resnicow said in the audio: 'I'll break your teeth. No, you sit down in your f**king seat. Sit down in your fucking seat and watch the show.
'Sit down and shut up. You're not going anywhere... You want broken teeth? I'll break your f**king teeth.'
![Resnicow gives DailyMail.com a tour of the basement of the building in 2018](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/01/18/17/80179473-12976033-Resnicow_gives_DailyMail_com_a_tour_of_the_basement_of_the_build-a-33_1705600127931.jpg)
Resnicow gives DailyMail.com a tour of the basement of the building in 2018
![More of Theroux's belongings stashed in the basement of the building in 2018](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/01/18/17/80179475-12976033-More_of_Theroux_s_belongings_stashed_in_the_basement_of_the_buil-a-32_1705600127925.jpg)
More of Theroux's belongings stashed in the basement of the building in 2018
Theroux's court filings later claimed Resnicow's 'volcanic rage' were reflected in numerous outbursts toward his wife, which disturbed the peace of all the residents in the co-op.
The battle finally came to a head last August when Judge Lebovits ruled on 15 demands by both sides.
'The core theory of Theroux's complaint, and his arguments on these motions, is that the Resnicows have undertaken a harassment campaign against him in retribution for the parties' dispute over the issue of soundproofing,' he wrote.
'Including ginning up a dispute over the roof-terrace boundary line, for which Theroux is seeking redress in damages sounding in nuisance and trespass.'
Among the point the judge addressed was how Resnicow 'wrongfully annexed about 40 square feet of Theroux's portion of the rooftop terrace by placing a line of bricks at the boundary'.
'Resnicow's claim that he 'annexed nothing' in the course of the boundary dispute is contradicted by his own admission in the record that Theroux was 'stuck with' a 'much smaller and less useable nine-foot, 10-inch by 20ft boxcar',' he wrote.
Judge Lebovits found in favor of Theroux on 13 of the 15 motions, but left a jury to decide much of the case.
'Theroux has established as a matter of law that various aspects of Norman Resnicow's behavior toward him constitute a private nuisance — an intentional, unreasonable, interference with Theroux's use and enjoyment of his apartment,' he ruled.
![Theroux and Aniston arrive at the 2015 Vanity Fair Oscar Party, the same year they married](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/01/18/17/80178543-12976033-image-a-35_1705600558227.jpg)
Theroux and Aniston arrive at the 2015 Vanity Fair Oscar Party, the same year they married
Should the case got to trial, a jury will have to decide claims that Theroux's huge deck umbrella to 'encroached' onto Resnicow's side of theier shared terrace by two feet, and that water run-off from the actor's side flows to Resnicow's.
Resnicow also claimed Theroux's bright floodlights disturbed him and his wife inside their home, and that he maliciously called the city Department of Buildings on him.
The lawyer finally alleged the actor deliberately wrapped deck balusters with black garbage bags purely to ruin the view. Theroux insisted this was just for improved privacy.
The board of the 10-unit building joined in last year by suing to have Resnicow evicted for being abusive and interfering with work on the roof.
'It is self-evident that the Resnicows understand their time in the cooperative has come to an end,' the board's lawyer Joshua Kopelowitz said.
'It's unfortunate that the Resnicows did not reach this conclusion sooner. It could have obviated the need for litigation.'
Resnicow resisted this, but last month put the three-bedroom, 2.5-bath, 2,420-square-foot apartment on the market after living there for 20 years.
He wanted $4 million for the unit in the historic, six-storey, 1848 building that in addition to half the terrace has a private garden.
'This home has a thoughtful layout, charming and unique interior, high ceilings, and plenty of natural light,' the listing read.