After months of enduring the cigar smoke wafting into his apartment from his elderly neighbor's unit, Upper East Side resident Russell Poses couldn't take it any more. He claims neighbor Harry Lyson had stubbornly refused to give up his cigars, leaving Poses and his wife—who live with their two children on East 79th Street—no choice but to file a $2 million lawsuit against him. But a nasty legal battle came to an end yesterday, and Lyson got off easy with a settlement that will cost him just $2,000 per cigar if the Poses family ever smells smoke.
And if Lyson doesn't pay the fine within 15 days, he'll owe an additional $1,500 per violation, according to the agreement. His lawyer says the deal puts his client out into the street (though he better stay away from the park). "This was one of the few pleasures left in his life," attorney Jeffrey Marcus tells the Daily News. "At his age, I felt he'd earned the right to enjoy his cigar and his brandy at the end of the day." But Poses, an equities trader, insisted his neighbor's filthy pleasure was stinking up his dining room. Of course, you've got to wonder: what kind of red-blooded Wall Street trader objects to a little cigar smoke?
