A newly filed lawsuit from the building management of a luxury Upper East Side apartment building alleges that a resident who swims in the wrong communal pool lanes has also pooped in it—but 83-year-old Helen Hirsh told The Daily Beast that it’s the condo’s management that’s full of it.
Attorneys for Rio The Condominium and Spa on East 65 St. alleged in court documents on Wednesday that Hirsh “defecated in the Fitness Center's pool and then again in the Fitness Center shower.”
“The Condominium was forced to shut down the Fitness Center's pool so that it could be properly sanitized according to the applicable State health code, and to the applicable State health code, and to take the Fitness Center's shower out of use so that it could be cleaned and disinfected. As a result, other unit owners and residents were unable to use the pool or the shower during those times,” the complaint said.
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The suit also alleges that Hirsh “screams and makes loud noises while using the gym and the pool” and “failed on numerous occasions to wear proper attire in the gym (using the gym equipment in a wet bathing suit and not wearing proper athletic footwear) [or] to shower before using the pool.”
After the Board suspended her access to those facilities, she found her way back in by “deceitfully obtaining a code to access the Fitness Center from a real estate broker who had been” showing it to potential buyers, “and has even forced her way into the Fitness Center when another resident was exiting through the Fitness Center door. Defendant has called the police to the Building when Building staff have attempted to restrict her access to the Fitness Center.”
In a late-night Wednesday interview with The Daily Beast, Hirsh says the allegations are mostly false and that she would file a counter lawsuit.
“No, this is really ridiculous; I was a doctor before,” Hirsh told The Daily Beast when asked about swimming in incorrect pool lanes. “I don’t know how to swim; I always swim near the wall, you know, near the wall.”
“I am scared,” she admitted, while sharing that her doctor assigned her to daily workouts in the pool after breaking her leg, which she says left her disabled. “Of course, you [swim] near the wall!”
“Ya, I don’t know how to swim. I am not very good, so,” Hirsh said with a chuckle.
Asked about the pooping allegation, she responded: “No, never,” then added, “Maybe I am getting old.”
She asked, “Do they have evidence? Ridiculous, I was a doctor before!”
Then she alleged that management secretly wanted to get her out of her one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment in the building, which she moved into last year, because she isn't a big tipper.
Listings show one-bedroom apartments in the condo asking well over $1 million and mention “incredible amenities including a 24-hour doorman, a well-equipped gym with a 50’ indoor lap swimming pool, hot tub, wood sauna, steam shower, furnished panoramic roof deck with a kitchen, ground-floor garden, central laundry room, and a live-in super.”
“Listen, listen, I tell you... this is ridiculous, I don’t want to live here anymore,” she said, while alleging that her problems stem from not giving “tips, tips, tips” to the building staff. “I’m an old lady. Why should I tip you all the time?”
“Tomorrow, I go to court to sue them,” Hirsh said. “I want to sue the management company!”
Asked what she would file suit over, the resident declared “wrong information” being placed within the public record by the management of her own building.
The lawyer representing the building—which is seeking both “injunctive relief” and “money damages,” citing the need to make repairs to the building, including the ’“sanitizing [of] potentially harmful conditions”—didn’t return The Daily Beast’s request for comment on Wednesday night.
