A court in Mataró (Maresme) has sentenced a neighbor to one year and three months in prison for the health problems he caused his neighbors in El Masnou with the electronic music he played at full volume, both day and night, for at least five years.
In its sentence, the criminal court number 2 of Mataró condemns the defendant, Jordi F., for a crime against the environment and forces him to compensate three of his neighbors with a total of 18,000 euros for moral damages caused by the volume of his music, which far exceeded the limits established in the regulations. The sentence also imposes a fine of 2,160 euros on the defendant and disqualifies him from practicing any profession or trade related to electronic music.
The case started from the lawsuit that in July 2015 was filed by the neighbors of a semi-detached house that adjoined the defendant’s, after three years enduring the excessive volume of electronic music that he played in his home, especially on weekends.
The sonometric measurements revealed that the volume of the music, which even caused vibrations in the walls and objects, far exceeded the legal limits, with up to 57 decibels during the day and in the evening -well above the 35 decibels allowed- and up to 56 at night, when the maximum is 30.
According to the ruling, the defendant “did not adopt any effective measure to avoid the harmful effects” that the noise coming from his home generated, despite being “obliged” to do so, thereby accepting the “seriously dangerous consequences that this implied for the physical and mental health of the neighbours.
In fact, the convicted man ignored the repeated complaints of his neighbors for the excessive volume of the music, so that they called the Local Police of El Masnou on several occasions between 2012 and 2017, without the defendant doing anything to mitigate noise.
In October 2014, the Councilor for the Environment of the El Masnou City Council issued a warning to the defendant for the noise pollution he was causing from his home, and the mayor requested a report from the Diputació de Barcelona to determine the extent of the inconvenience. caused to the neighbors. Said report, adds the sentence, “clearly” accredited the serious risk that the noises posed to the physical and mental health of the defendant’s neighbors.
Specifically, one of the neighbors suffered from insomnia that required a sedative-hypnotic treatment to be prescribed, and another’s Alzheimer’s disease worsened due to the anxiety caused by the volume of electronic music.
Judge Lucía Avilés acknowledges in her ruling that neither the healing time nor the consequences derived from the injuries suffered by the residents have been proven, but considers that they should be compensated for the moral damages caused. “It is evident that the acts committed by the defendant have caused harm to those affected, altering their normal lifestyle and causing them a state of permanent anxiety,” the sentence added.
Not surprisingly, the judge recognized in her ruling that, although noise has traditionally been included among “annoying activities, today it is fully recognized that noise pollution can cause serious damage to the physical and chemical health of human beings.”
