Socialite and fashion guru Daphne Guinness is awash in trouble with her New York City neighbors.
The beer heiress' downstairs neighbors sued her this week, saying she has repeatedly let her bathtub overflow and flood a bathroom in their Fifth Avenue apartment. She didn't immediately respond to a message left with an assistant Wednesday night.
Neighbors Karim and Tina Samii say they've endured three floods in the last two years, plus a leak caused by renovations to Guinness' apartment.
The deluges have damaged walls, stained a ceiling, temporarily prevented the Samiis from using their master bathroom and left them worried about going out for fear of another flood, their court papers say, fuming that Guinness has failed "to exercise the slightest degree of care" to rein in the gushing tub.
The posh co-op's management told her last spring that the tub's custom-designed faucet pumped out too much water, and the building even restricted the flow to the tub — but then it was apparently left running and overflowed once again Oct. 10, the lawsuit says.
The couple is demanding at least $1 million in damages — plus a court order barring Guinness from using her tub until she has work done to stop the washouts.
Guinness is known for her adventuresome take on haute couture, often including sky-high platform heels. The edgy cosmetics company Nars named a bright-violet eyeshadow after her, and chic clothier Comme des Garcons produced a fragrance for her.
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She also designs clothes herself, and when a New York magazine interviewer stopped by this summer, she was preparing to pour some resin into round forms to make a table.
"With the resin, I don't mind about my floors," she told the magazine, "but I'm a little worried about the neighbors."
