Owner Sues Early Christmas Tree Vendor

Recently, an owner took a street-side Christmas tree vendor to court, after the vendor set up shop outside of his residential building. The owner had received complaints from residents in his building.

Citing an obscure 1938 city law, the owner sought an emergency court order that would bar the vendor from selling trees. The 1938 law limits the sale of Christmas trees on the streets of New York before Dec. 1, and came about following Mayor Fiorello La Guardia's crackdown on the then-unregulated industry.

The suit was withdrawn when the proprietors of the Christmas tree stand couldn't be located to defend their business and a Manhattan Supreme Court judge refused to hear the case under expedited review.