SKF NOTE: This is an interesting court case describing a situation most drummers deal with at some point in their lives. I sympathize with both sides. Another news report said this young man’s drums are in a garage 15-feet from Joanne Traetto’s home. But it’s a drag for drummers to never have a chance to practice on real drums. And this young man sounds as if he’s trying to strike a balance between his need to work/practice and his neighbor’s need to work.
Judge Says Teen Drummer’s Playing Isn’t a Nuisance
Michael Booth, New Jersey Law Journal
November 5, 2014
A teenage drummer’s occasional afternoon practice sessions in his family’s garage do not rise to the level of a nuisance and he won’t be ordered to stop or move his drum set somewhere else, a New Jersey judge has ruled.
Morris County Superior Court Judge Stephan Hansbury on Oct. 30 refused to grant injunctive relief to a Boonton, N.J., woman, Joanne Traetto, who complained that drumming by her next-door neighbor, Daniel Palazzo, makes it difficult for her to sleep and work.
Traetto’s attorney, Joseph Murray of Schiller & Pittenger in Scotch Plains, N.J., said he does not anticipate an appeal.
Traetto is a computer analyst for a pharmaceutical company who is on call 24 hours a day, working out of her home, according to court documents. She filed her lawsuit against the Palazzos in December 2012, when Daniel was 15. He is now 17.
The lawsuit alleged that the drumming went on at all hours of the day and night and that it interrupted her ability to do her job and get some sleep.
The Palazzos, in their answer and motion to dismiss, said their son plays only from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., and that the town’s health administrator had determined that the sound from the drumming does not violate the town’s noise ordinance.
In a response, Traetto…included a certification from another neighbor who said the drumming is “unreasonably loud” and is “so incessant and loud that the drums appear to be beaten by a maniac.”
Scott K Fish 
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