Unlike most annoyed residents who simply complained on social media, Van Buren took legal action. In 2018, he filed a class-action lawsuit against the organizers of SantaCon, as well as the City of Hoboken itself. His claim was audacious yet rooted in a fundamental principle of property law: that the event constituted a public and private nuisance. Van Buren argued that SantaCon effectively deprived him and his neighbors of the use and enjoyment of their own homes. He sought an injunction to stop the event and, failing that, demanded that the city force the organizers to pay for policing, sanitation, and cleanup. Van Buren became the face of the anti-SantaCon resistance—the man who dared to sue Santa Claus.

The Van Buren lawsuit, while specific to Hoboken, resonated far beyond New Jersey. It signaled a potential legal sea change for “flash-mob” style events. If successful, it could have established a precedent holding both social media organizers and municipalities liable for the predictable consequences of large, unstructured gatherings. City officials around the country watched closely; a ruling against Hoboken would have forced cities to either ban such events outright or demand massive financial bonds from participants.

Crucially, Van Buren targeted not just the amorphous “organizers” but also the City of Hoboken. He alleged that the city had failed in its duty to protect its residents by issuing permits for bar participation and allocating public resources to an event that generated far more cost than economic benefit. The lawsuit highlighted a core dilemma: when does a spontaneous gathering become an organized event for which a municipality bears responsibility? Van Buren’s position was that by facilitating the crawl—closing streets, providing extra police—the city was essentially subsidizing public drunkenness at the expense of taxpayers and residents’ quality of life.

The Spectacle of Dissent: Tyler Van Buren and the Legal Backlash Against SantaCon