Cooperative & Homeowners Association Law Firm

Category: Litigation

TO FILE, OR NOT TO FILE? FOR AN HOA BOARD, THAT MAY NO LONGER BE THE QUESTION

Life used to be fairly simple.  In the old days, when a Long Island Homeowners Association (HOA) amended its Declaration or By-Laws, the common practice was for the Board to file a Certificate of Amendment with the County Clerk. 

First of all, when an amendment is filed with that office, all owners and subsequent owners of homes in the community will legally be on notice that such amended rules exist and apply to them.  Filing amendments with the County Clerk’s Office is also a good way to make sure those documents can be easily located by future generations of board members and homeowners.  Finally, the Declaration of most HOAs requires that amendments be recorded in order to be effective.
Continue reading “TO FILE, OR NOT TO FILE? FOR AN HOA BOARD, THAT MAY NO LONGER BE THE QUESTION”

Grandfathered … or not?

A Westchester County cooperative apartment corporation decided to prohibit washing machines in apartments by creating a new House Rule.

 The basis for the new rule was a finding by the Board that the plumbing system in the building was “not sufficiently robust” to handle washing machines.  The co-op’s Board of Directors, however, took no steps to demand that shareholders remove any existing washing machines from their units.  Implicitly, the Board appeared to have granted these shareholders some form of “grandfather” status.
Continue reading “Grandfathered … or not?”

Community Associations in the News

You may have read recently about the homeowners association in Las Vegas in which a teenage resident was severely injured in a playground accident (see the July/August 2018 issue of CAI’s Common Ground Magazine, pages 20-25).

The jury rendered a $20 million verdict for the plaintiff, which overwhelmed the HOA’s liability insurance policy limit of $2 million.

Continue reading “Community Associations in the News”

Absence of Malice

A Comparative Analysis between the Torts of “Abuse of Process” and “Malicious Prosecution” in civil litigation

Misuse of the legal system and its processes by litigants is nothing new; for centuries, individuals have improperly used the threat and/or commencement of legal action, both criminal and civil, as a sword against an adversary or potential victim.  In fact, the use of process for the purpose of oppression or injustice was once punishable as contempt, and at times rose to an action for injury to reputation.[1] Continue reading “Absence of Malice”

Individual Board Member Liability After Fletcher v. Dakota

The Dakota, one of the legendary co-operative apartment buildings in Manhattan, has long shunned attention. 

Its Board of Directors has allegedly even denied the purchase applications of celebrities in order to avoid the publicity that accompanies high profile residents.  Ironically, instead of fame, the Dakota has been plagued by infamy, most notably by the murder of John Lennon at its doorstep, and most recently by a discrimination law suit brought by a former Board president against the Board of Directors and two individual Board members.[i] Continue reading “Individual Board Member Liability After Fletcher v. Dakota”

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