Dismissed: Attorney’s suit over sleep deprivation

A suit brought by a Houston lawyer alleging her downstairs neighbor was purposefully keeping her up at night has been dismissed.

Claiming she hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in weeks, Kiri Martin, an attorney at law, filed suit against Preston Heath Davidson on Jan. 30 in Harris County District Court.

Court records show that on April 22 Martin and Davidson filed an agreed motion to dismiss with prejudice, which was granted that same day.

Neither the motion nor court order state whether the parties agreed to a settlement or compromise.

Martin has lived in her Houston apartment since 2013 and is on a month-to-month lease. Davidson has lived below her since July.

Starting in December, Davidson had allegedly employed “intentional, and malicious, and cruel, and unreasonable” acts to interfere with Martin’s “use and enjoyment” of her apartment and causing an invasion of her property rights, the suit alleged.

“In fact, Defendant works hard to keep Plaintiff (who is a single working mother with no child support and who owns her own business consisting solely of herself and is the sole source of income for her family) constantly awake, from directly below her in his apartment, each time she dares to drift off to sleep throughout any given night,” Martin says in her suit.

“This has occurred 124 times from Dec. 1 … to the time of filing.”

Martin alleged Davidson “has always” intended to cause harm and “destroy” her as his “sole object and mission.”

She was suing for exemplary damages, plus mental anguish emotional strain and lost wages for the intentional sleep deprivation.

Houston attorney David Archer represented Martin.

Case No. 2015 05275