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
- Arbitration
- Assessment
- Attorney Fees
- Attorney-Client
- Authority to Sue
- Balcony/Terrace Rights
- Bike Lane
- Board of Directors
- Books and Records
- Breach of Lease
- Business Judgment Rule
- Bylaws
- Bylaws/House Rules
- Certificate of Occupancy
- Charges/Fees
- Commercial Unit
- Common Element
- Common Elements
- Companion Animal
- Constitutionality
- Construction Defects
- Contracts
- Conversion
- Defamation
- Discovery
- Discrimination
- Due Diligence
- Easement
- Elections
- Estate
- Eviction
- Eviction/Termination
- Fiduciary Duty
- Fines
- Foreclosure
- Fraud
- Governance
- Gym
- House Rules
- Indemnification
- Indemnification/Subrogation
- Injunction
- Insurance
- Labor Law
- Liability of Directors
- Licenses
- Liens
- Maintenance
- Malpractice
- Management
- Mechanic's Lien
- Misrepresentations
- Motion Practice
- Motion Practive
- Negligence
- Notice of Pendency
- Nuisance
- Occupancy Agreement
- Ownership
- Parking
- Partnership
- Personal Injury
- Pets
- Property Damage
- Proprietary Lease
- Reasonableness
- Receivership
- Release
- Repairs
- Representations
- Sales
- Service of Process
- Sponsor
- Statute of Limitations
- Stock/Shares
- Stocks/Shares
- Sublets
- Succession Rights
- Tax
- Third-Party Liability
- Transfers
- Trespassing
- Trial Practice
- Violations
- Warranty of Habitability
- Yellowstone Injunction
- Zoning
First published: Oct 2003
157 East 57th Street LLC v. BirrenbachAlthough this case did not actually involve either a cooperative or condominium building, it might have and the issues would not be different. This case deals with one of the newest and hottest topics in real estate management. Mold, although arguably a less serious a hazard to most people than asbestos or lead paint, is the latest environmental hazard to receive considerable attention. Moreover, for people with severe allergies or asthma it can be a serious, even life- threatening matter. While mold has existed for centuries, there is a new awareness that water conditions in a residential building must be remediated promptly after occurrence so as to eliminate and prevent the development of mold. This requires well-managed co-op and condo buildings to establish operations and maintenance programs to deal with water conditions before they become mold problems.
Read full articleFirst published: Sep 2003
Amalgamated Dwellings Inc. v. Szold & Brandwen, P.C.The message here is to review invoices for legal services promptly when submitted after the services are rendered or disbursements incurred. The court was not sympathetic to the co-op's efforts to question the appropriateness of legal fees paid many years ago before there was some estrangement in the attorney-client relationship.
Read full articleFirst published: Sep 2003
445/86 Owners Corp. v. Charles HaydonIt appears that the co-op pursued the wrong remedy. Instead of seeking to collect a sublet fee for the sole occupancy of an apartment by the shareholder's mother-in-law, it should have brought an action to end the unauthorized use of an apartment by a family member where the shareholder of record was absent, a violation of most proprietary leases.
Read full articleFirst published: Aug 2003
Saxon Garage Corp. v. Regency East Apartment Corp.What triggered this action for trespass after a long established practice is uncertain. It may have been that the garage was seeking to exact money from its co-op landlord. Perhaps business was in the doldrums and the garage was trying to persuade its landlord to reduce the rent. Certainly, the effort was unsuccessful.
Read full articleFirst published: Jul 2003
Lesal Associates v. Board of Managers, Downing Court CondominiumThis is not an unusual case where a board of managers, dominated by the interests of residential unit-owners and controlling a substantial majority on the board, seeks to reallocate common charges to lessen the burden on the residential unit-owners. Here, the effort failed and the court refused to sanction the reallocation. The question is can efforts to achieve this goal elsewhere succeed because the non-residential unit-owners are loathe to challenge the board?
Read full articleFirst published: Jun 2003
Rahman v. Board of Managers of Yardarm CondominiumThis case is somewhat surprising because the insurance was inadequate. It seems that the board got poor advice about the appropriate amount of coverage that was available even if it required payment of an additional premium. It is a good lesson about the need for a co-op or condo board to obtain and follow first-rate advice from competent professional advisers when obtaining property and liability insurance coverage, even in this time of significant increases in insurance premiums.
Read full articleFirst published: May 2003
Feld v. 710 Park Avenue Corp.This foiled attempt to bar Feld from board service for being at odds with the current board must be viewed as outrageous. The case illustrates the difficulties a co-op or condo board faces when it seeks to bar a dissident from service, especially where cumulative voting is provided in the entity's bylaws.
Read full articleFirst published: Apr 2003
Gramercy Park Residence Corp. v. EllmanThis was a victory for the co-op, which obtained all the relief it sought in light of the shareholder's intransigence to allow needed repairs. One must wonder what impelled this shareholder to resist legitimate board action. Perhaps poor legal advice?
Read full articleFirst published: Mar 2003
Barbour v. KnechtA lower court decision that board consent was not required for this transfer was reversed. The co-op documents and the history of prior transfers, all of which mandated board approval, were the controlling factors, despite a shareholders' agreement and the fact that the purchaser was already a shareholder. This decision reinforces the standard co-op requirement of the need for board approval of apartment transfers.
Read full articleFirst published: Jan 2003
Amato v. HirdReal estate contracts in the New York metropolitan area including co-op purchase and sale agreements normally provide for a 10 percent deposit on account of the purchase price. Invariably, this deposit is held in escrow until the closing when it is paid to the seller. If the sale fails to take place because some contingency in the contract does not occur, the purchaser would normally have his deposit returned. If the sale fails to occur because of the seller's breach, the normal remedy is an action for specific performance to compel the conveyance of a unique piece of real estate. If the sale fails to occur because of the purchaser's breach, the deposit is virtually always retained by the seller as liquidated damages. This case holds that a 10 percent deposit qualified as liquidated damages and not a penalty. If, in another contract for the purchase and sale of a co-op, there was a provision for a 20 percent deposit, could this also serve as liquidated damages and not a penalty if so specified in the contract? The answer is maybe, as the decision would depend on all of the facts and circumstances that justified an increase in the standard deposit from 10 to 20 percent.
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