In an opinion yesterday, Judge Abrams dismissed a suit by an Upper East Side resident complaining about the opening of an Apple Store “eighty-seven and one-half” feet from his home. The plaintiff claimed that “there will be a massive increase in pedestrian traffic,” that “the very existence of an Apple store creates and multiplies crowds,” and that Apple’s product launch schedule will cause “the occupation of the neighborhood, its sidewalks, and its streets, by long lines of Apple customers.” He also complained about the risk of “[m]obile food trucks” popping up and “noisy Rock N Roll concerts.”
Judge Abrams found that the plaintiff lacked standing to sue for this type of spectulative harm: “Despite having amended his complaint more than five months after Apple’s Store opened . . . [the plaintiff] does not allege that this feared parade of horribles has occurred and, indeed, [his] briefing acknowledges that “no disturbances have yet occurred since the June 13, 2015 store opening.”