Legal Decisions…Simplified and Specific.
A distinguished panel of New York co-op/condo attorneys analyze recent NY co-op/condo decisions. Subscribers receive a monthly PDF Digest of these case summaries and takeaways, an Advance Sheet of co-op/condo court cases recently decided, and access to the searchable Tracker database.
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Addressing the specific and unique needs of today’s niche community of New York's co-op and condo professionals, Case Law Tracker does the heavy lifting—combing through and drawing out the cases most relevant to your needs.
Case Summaries
Focusing only on co-op and condo cases, practicing attorneys in this field prepare case summaries and useful takeaways - helping you understand what the case is about so you can quickly determine if it benefits you.
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A pdf Digest of all co-op/condo cases added to the database is emailed monthly to you. Plus, to keep you up to date on what the courts have most recently decided, you'll receive, monthly, an Advance Sheet with case names, decision and docket links, judges, and brief decision excerpts.
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Advisory Panel
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Case Watch
Emailed twice-monthly, Case Watch focus on providing insight on one particularly relevant case—clearly explaining what happened, why it’s important, and what lessons can be learned within. Case Watch reaches two audiences: lawyers who subscribe to the Co-op & Condo Case Law Tracker and Habitat Magazine subscribers (co-op and condo board directors, property managers and other industry professionals).
Case Notes See all
Case Notes provides insight on one particularly relevant co-op or condo case—clearly explaining what happened, why it’s important, and what lessons can be learned within.
First published: Feb 2026
Packages, Protests, and Protected SpeechTAKEAWAY As noted by Judge Rosado, this is a case about “good corporate citizenship.” This decision reinforces that courts strongly protect resident and board communications with regulators, even when motivated by hostility toward a commercial neighbor. Boards do not incur tort liability simply by raising safety or quality of life issues with city agencies, even if those complaints lead to inspections, police visits, or business disruption. However, the opinion also implicitly warns against informal or personal tactics. Allegations about publishing a tenant’s phone number, encouraging harassment, or staging confrontations, while insufficient here, illustrate how easily governance disputes can escalate into reputational and litigation risk. Best practice remains disciplined procedural enforcement: written rule violations, documented inspections, coordinated communication through counsel, and reliance on formal regulatory mechanisms. Boards should avoid acting as neighborhood activists and instead operate as corporate fiduciaries. When boards remain institutional, neutral, and process-driven, they benefit from both substantive tort defenses and the powerful shield of New York’s anti-SLAPP statute.
Read full articleFirst published: Feb 2026
The Consequences of Rolling Back RightsTAKEAWAY This case demonstrates that once a board conveys important amenities to a tenant that are maintained for years, an attempt to later claw them back through a change to the house rules risks a lawsuit. The appellate court’s decision shows that if there is evidence that the rule change may have targeted and discriminated against a particular tenant or group of tenants, a court may hold that the business judgement rule does not apply to allow for a quick summary dismissal, leaving the board to face the bad publicity, acrimony, time demands, and costs of ongoing litigation. Still, the appellate court’s decision to let stand the trial court dismissals of counts relating to the freight elevator rule changes, notwithstanding their sweeping nature and seemingly adverse business implications for commercial tenants in a heavily commercial building, demonstrate that the business judgment rule’s protections are still quite substantial. It is also helpful, as occurred here, for a board to pass a more general rule that clarifies and provides notice regarding its powers prior to taking action on particular amenities through a house rule.
Read full articleFirst published: Jan 2026
How Common Are your ElementsTAKEAWAY This decision underscores that disputes over assessment responsibility in condominiums rise or fall on the plain language of its governing documents. Where a condo declaration defines common elements to include building components that both encompass multiple units and benefit the building as a whole, courts will not allow cost-shifting by owners trying to recharacterize façade work based on subjective benefit or physical location. Legally mandated façade inspections and repairs under Local Law 11 are treated as building-wide obligations, and absent express exclusions, all unit owners must pay their proportional share. However, condo boards are not immune from scrutiny: accounting transparency, improperly filed liens, and allocation of non-façade repair work may still give rise to viable claims depending on the facts.
Read full article