While some condos and co-ops are lucky enough to have lawyers serve as members of their board, the majority of boards don’t have an in-house legal expert. They often reach out to their attorney to answer questions, vet documents and sen…
Some of the most intense combat occurring in modern times is not that which has taken place on battlefields, such as at Normandy, Pork Chop Hill, or in the la Drang Valley, or currently in the mountains of Afghanistan, but rather in the…
Abraham Lincoln once said, “Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can. As a peacemaker, the lawyer has superior opportunity of being a good man. There will still be business enough.” Certain…
New York's co-ops and condos are both governed by a multitude of laws and rules. For co-ops, the primary governing documents are the bylaws and the proprietary lease. For condos, they are the condominium declaration and, once again, the…
As the old adage goes, one bad apple can upset the apple cart. The same theory holds true for residents who choose to ignore bylaws or house rules, even if they are well-intended and in place to serve the greater good of the community. …
Recently, the Appellate Division First Department, in Fletcher v. Dakota, Inc., involving a shareholder in The Dakota, a historic luxury co-op on the Upper West Side, held that the business judgment rule does not protect individual con…
Launching a successful business requires talent, the commitment of many people, dedication and of course, a clear cut plan and strategy. Just like launching a business, a co-op or condo needs this kind of support when it makes the tran…
It is one of life’s eternal questions: is it possible to have too much of a good thing? That question certainly can apply to the matter of long-serving board members: those individuals who get elected and re-elected term after term and …
In the typical suburban condo development, one must go to another location to shop— maybe to the mini-mall, or the big box store down the road. But in New York City co-ops and condos, stores are often found on the ground floor—supermark…
They say there are eight million stories in the naked city, and when you’re an attorney working for a co-op or condo in New York, you may find that some of the best of them are happening to you. While some may think that handli…