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Chelsea Woman Sues Neighborhood 'Sexy Boutique' For Clogging Sewage Pipes With Condoms, Diapers, Other Fun Stuff
By
Paula Mejía
Published Feb 28, 2019
Modified Feb 28, 2019
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By
Paula Mejía
Published Feb 28, 2019
Modified Feb 28, 2019
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A Chelsea homeowner is suing the sex shop near her townhouse, alleging that the store clogged her property's basement with "raw sewage" and "human waste/excrement" culled from an unholy combination of diapers, condoms, rubber gloves, and other ephemera.
In a complaint filed earlier this week, plaintiff Susan Haar says the sewage pileup from Sexy Boutique— located at 155 8th Avenue—filled the basement of her home with "noxious odors" that made the place "uninhabitable." She's currently seeking $2 million in damages from the sex shop.
Haar bought her place, around the corner at 304 West 18th Street, in a foreclosure auction in fall 2010. She details in the complaint that upon buying the house, she did a complete renovation of the townhouse, including the plumbing. Haar, a playwright by trade, states that the first sewage backup happened on November 15th, 2018, and that it subsequently flooded her basement roughly six inches deep with "feces, sludge and other human waste." In the suit, Haar says she put the house on the market earlier in November, but had to unlist it due to the sewage and other damages.
In December, Haar says she accompanied a Department of Environmental Protection inspector as they performed a "dye test," meaning they poured red dye down the sink at Sexy Boutique, and that same dye appeared to "bubble up from the grates in the floor" at Haar's place. A camera probe of the sewer line, also conducted in December, led Haar to conclude that the debris had indeed come from the shop.
Since then, Haar says she's had to disinfect and clean the place consistently. The likes of "cigar wraps, rags, sanitary wipes, straws, clamps of condoms and even a plastic water bottle" have allegedly been removed from routine snakes of the sewage system, according to a cease and desist letter from January 2019.
On Tuesday, a judge issued an injunction that restrains the boutique "from engaging in any activity...which is causing and/or facilitating the sewage backups," including using the bathroom, as NBC New York notes.
Haar and her legal representatives, Newman Ferrara LLP, both declined to comment for this story. Father Realty Corporation, which owns Sexy Boutique, could not be immediately reached for a comment.
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Chelsea
condoms
diapers
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manhattan
sewage
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Paula Mejía
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