The Strokes’ Nikolai Fraiture to appear in court over legal dispute with neighbour
Nikolai Fraiture, best known as the bass player for New York indie rockers The Strokes, is set to appear in court over a dispute involving whether he owns a patch of land used for gardening.
Toby Dodd, a New York City realtor, and his wife, Julie de Pontbriand, moved into an apartment on 42 King Street in Manhattan in 2017. The couple bought the ground-floor apartment and its private rear yard, also purchasing the garden next door at 44 King Street, along with a small ground-floor room in the building as well.
Fraiture, who also lives at 44 King Street, sued Dodd and Pontbriand in 2021, claiming that their purchase of the garden was illegally combined with their purchase of the 42 King Street apartment. The couple has countersued the Fraitures, accusing them of trying to force them out. “The Fraitures’ motivation is simple: the Dodds have exclusive rights over the building’s garden and the Fraitures want it for themselves,” the countersuit reads.
“Think of it this way: if I told you that I had a bridge to sell and you bought it from me, would that make you the owner of that bridge? No, it would not,” Fraiture’s attorney Bradley Silverbush said. “Based upon everything I have seen to date, I believe that the Dodds’ claim of ownership is, at best, questionable.”
“The Dodds have never wavered on their unwillingness to part with the Garden,” the countersuit adds. “Rather than accept that reality, the Fraitures launched a still-ongoing scheme to force the Dodds out of 44 King and take the Garden for themselves.”
The countersuit also alleges that “Other residents have commented that prior to the Fraitures’ arrival, 44 King was a very pleasant community in which to live, but the Fraitures have created an unsettling, tension filled environment for all.”
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