Case Notes
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.
Category
- Access
- Alterations
- Appeals
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- Attorney Fees
- Attorney-Client
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- Balcony/Terrace Rights
- Bike Lane
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- Business Judgment Rule
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- Negligence
- Notice of Pendency
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- Parking
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- Proprietary Lease
- Reasonableness
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- Yellowstone Injunction
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First published: Dec 2007
Breezy Point Cooperative Inc. vs. YoungThe Pullman progeny keep coming, about one every year since the landmark decision in 2002. While the number is still small, almost all of the progeny have supported the action of the co-op in terminating proprietary leases for objectionable conduct. Does the limited number of cases suggest the difficulty in establishing objectionable conduct or restraint on the part of co-op boards in applying Pullman to only the most egregious instances of objectionable conduct? Stay tuned!
Read full articleFirst published: Dec 2007
Gunning vs. Regina Metropolitan Co. LLCAlthough this case involved a rental building, the issue here, storage of property by a landlord, is equally applicable whether the building is a co-op or a condominium. The entity in whose care the property was left has some responsibility for its return. Even when the standard of care for a gratuitous bailment is relaxed to gross negligence, there may still be liability for lost property. Co-op and condo boards should insure some measure of security and control over goods stored by building occupants outside over their units and should insure that any disposition of stored property is properly documented and recorded to protect the landlord from later claims.
Read full articleFirst published: Nov 2007
Avery vs. CaldwellThis case involved an obviously annoyed judge who did little to conceal her view that the recusal motion was frivolous and without merit. It is hard to see what led to the plaintiff’s decision to seek recusal unless there was some unarticulated belief that the judge was prejudiced against the plaintiff.
Read full articleFirst published: Oct 2007
Joan Messner v. 112 East 83rd Tenants Corp.This situation happens fairly frequently in Manhattan. An apartment is purchased with an existing greenhouse, which was not part of the original building construction. Somehow the purchaser fails to learn for some time, at least until there are leaks, that this structure is one for which the co-op has no responsibility to repair. Then, a dispute with the co-op ensues over the repair responsibility. In most cases, as here, the co-op will prevail, but there are extenuating circumstances in some cases. The best solution would be for the co-op to explain the repair responsibility to the purchaser at closing, making sure to obtain an acknowledgement at that time from the purchaser that the co-op has no such repair responsibility.
Read full articleFirst published: Oct 2007
Hirschmann vs. HassapoyannesThis co-op board appears to be in trouble and without a good basis to justify its withdrawal of its approval of the purchase applications. This is a case where sound legal counsel before the board withdrew its approval might have led to a different result and less liability exposure for the board members involved.
Read full articleFirst published: Sep 2007
Zipper vs. Haroldon Court CondominiumThis is a clear case where the appellate court strongly disagreed with the conclusion of the trial court. Although lower courts are usually reversed on legal errors, the reversal here seems based in large measure on the facts: a strongly divergent view of the impact of the stench and odors and an evaluation of the extent of the odor level that constituted a nuisance.
Read full articleFirst published: Sep 2007
Graber vs. SheridanThe Business Judgment Rule remains the controlling precedent for judicial review of unit-owner challenges to a condominium board action. Under the rule, judicial deference is given to board determinations so long as the board acts within the scope of its authority, in good faith, and in the lawful and legitimate furtherance of the condominium’s purpose. This is another in a long line of cases that makes the challenge of a board’s action very difficult.
Read full articleFirst published: Sep 2007
Medows vs. SternAlthough this was not a final decision on the merits, the court was loathe to dismiss the complaint without a further review of the facts. So, the decision is a victory for the plaintiff and may be useful in achieving a settlement between the litigants rather than lead to a prolonged and costly exercise in discovery, further motion practice, and, worst case, a trial.
Read full articleFirst published: Jul 2007
Sassi-Lehner vs. Chariton Tenants Corp.This decision undercuts the ruling of New York’s highest court in the recent Kralik case, which recognized the broad contractual rights of holders of unsold shares in the face of regulations of the attorney general that sought to limit them. Here, the co-op’s offering plan had been amended in 1990 to require a holder of unsold shares to be designated by the sponsor – a requirement derived solely from the attorney general’s regulations – and this expanded definition in that plan was seized upon by the court to invalidate the claim of holders of unsold shares.
Read full articleFirst published: Jun 2007
1050 Tenants Corp. vs. LapidusThis appears to be the last in a long series of decisions involving the co-op at 1050 Fifth and the Lapiduses over a variety of issues related to the defendants’ occupancy and conduct in the co-op. Prior decisions have been the subject of earlier “Case Notes.” Here, the co-op’s patience with the Lapiduses’ repeated objectionable conduct was at an end, and it invoked the Pullman decision to validate its lease termination. This case is the latest progeny of Pullman and is further evidence of what a potent weapon this decision has become for co-op boards when faced with seriously objectionable conduct.
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