Posts by Team Colbert Law

Right before the pandemic started and we weren’t compelled to quarantine and stay closer to our neighbors for longer period of time, a Federal Court made a decision that makes it’s harder for cooperative boards to stay out of neighbor-neighbor disputes without risk of liability.

The case involved Kings Park Manor, a rental building owner, and complainant, Donahue Francis. The bickering between Francis and his neighbor Raymond Endres was unbelievable. The Court described it as a “brazen and relentless campaign of racial harassment, abuse, and threats.” In the parties’ words, according to the Court, “Francis heard Endres say ‘Jews, fucking Jews,’ while standing in front of their apartments Endres then called Francis, who is black, a ‘fucking nigger’. It got worse and worse and the building owner decided to stay out of it and directed management (who also ended up sued) to do the same.

The lawsuit was in Federal Court and ended up on appeal where the Second Circuit in Manhattan issued a decision which should make coop boards think twice before deciding not to intervene in disputes between shareholders; or at least ones that rise to the level of the Francis-Endres dispute. If a coop board decides to stay out despite the Court decision it ought to create a proper and thorough record vetted by counsel so that it can defend it if sued.

In the Kings Park case the Court ruled that the Fair Housing Act requires a landlord (like a coop) to take racial harassment as seriously as it takes other tenant misconduct, and that it constitutes intentional discrimination for a landlord to selectively ignore misconduct. The court held that the act covers discrimination not only when renting an apartment to a tenant but also extends to the relationship after the tenant moves in. Thus, a landlord is not allowed to harass or otherwise discriminate against a tenant because of race by failing to address complaints. The court reasoned that the landlord had remedies, such as terminating the lease, and it should have taken action rather sticking its head in the sand.

Read the decision here.

Most lawsuits challenging the propriety of decisions by cooperative and condominium boards are subject to a four-month statute of limitations. So if a complainant doesn’t start a lawsuit within four months of the board decision, they are time barred. Thus, boards have a solid statute of limitations defense unless a plaintiff acts really quickly. If sued past the four months, the board can move for dismissal and if presented properly, the lawsuit should be dismissed. It is critical for boards to maintain substantial records of such business decisions in minutes so that the timing for the four month start can be established and when suit is filed, help counsel present an effective dismissal motion.

The vast majority of complaints by aggrieved shareholders and unit owners challenging the propriety of board decisions are presented as actions for declaratory judgment. Crafty plaintiff’s lawyers probably do so because they do not specialize in condo/coop and business law, or they are trying to lawyer around the short statute of limitations. The New York Court of Appeals, however, has decreed that, regardless of how styled, if an action could lawfully be commenced as an Article 78 Proceeding, then the four-month statute of limitations applicable to these proceedings applies, as set forth in CPLR Section 217 (1). Armed with this knowledge and well-documented board business decisions, an aggressive condo/coop attorney should be able to effectively put an end to a lawsuit.