Board of Managers v. Fairways at North Hills

150 A.D.2d 32, 545 N.Y.S.2d 343, 1989 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 11572
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedSeptember 11, 1989
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 150 A.D.2d 32 (Board of Managers v. Fairways at North Hills) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Board of Managers v. Fairways at North Hills, 150 A.D.2d 32, 545 N.Y.S.2d 343, 1989 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 11572 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1989).

Opinion

[34]*34OPINION OF THE COURT

Rubin, J.

On this appeal we are asked to decide whether a board of managers of a condominium may bring a "private” cause of action against the sponsors of the condominium project to recover damages for alleged violations of certain provisions of the Martin Act (General Business Law art 23-A). Consistent with the decision of the Court of Appeals in CPC Intl. v McKesson Corp. (70 NY2d 268), we hold that no such cause of action exists.

The gravamen of the first and second causes of action in the complaint brought by the Board of Managers of the Fairways at North Hills Condominium are violations of the Martin Act, resulting from alleged misrepresentations in the offering plan. The complaint additionally seeks to recover damages based on theories of common-law fraud, breach of contract, negligence and breach of fiduciary duty. The sponsor of the project is the defendant Fairways at North Hills, Inc. and Ben-Falk, Ltd., as general partners, and the appellant Union Savings Bank (hereinafter the bank), as limited partner. The individual defendant Charles Falkner is vice-president of both Ben-Falk, Ltd. and the bank. In addition, it is alleged that Charles Falkner and the remaining two individual defendants, Harvey and Steve Auerbach, constituted the first board of managers of the condominium.

The appellants (Charles Falkner and the bank) separately moved to dismiss the complaint insofar as it is asserted against them. In support of their respective motions, Falkner contended that he could not be held personally liable for any damages sustained by the plaintiff because he had acted solely in his capacity as a corporate officer for a disclosed principal. The bank denied any active role in the construction of the project or in the preparation and publication of the offering plan. The bank insisted that it had merely loaned money to the defendant Fairways at North Hills to provide financing for the development and marketing of the condominium project. Relying on Falkner’s status as a corporate officer and the bank’s status as a limited partner, they contended that liability could not be imposed upon them for any alleged fraud, misrepresentations, negligence or breaches of contract committed by the corporation or the general partners, respectively, under the applicable principles of corporate, partnership and agency law. The Supreme Court denied Falkner’s [35]*35motion on the ground that an officer or director of a corporation may be liable for the fraudulent practices of his corporation under the provisions of the Martin Act, regardless of the laws of agency. The court also denied the bank’s motion to dismiss on the ground that its role was not merely that of a passive lender of capital. The court found that the issues surrounding the bank’s activities were "subject to discovery” and that "questions of fact concerning [the bank’s] role in the offering and its responsibilities under the Martin Act” sufficed to deny a motion for summary judgment. The court additionally noted that "[t]hese activities may very well be subject to and violative of § 352-e (1) (2) and 352-c (2) of the Martin Act”.

On appeal, the appellants argue that the Martin Act does not authorize a private cause of action, citing the decision of the Court of Appeals in CPC Intl. v McKesson Corp. (70 NY2d 268, supra). In the absence of a private cause of action under the Martin Act, the appellants contend that their respective motions should have been granted, since liability could not attach to either a corporate officer or limited partner under the governing principles of corporate, partnership or agency law.

The plaintiff concedes that the Martin Act has been construed to be an enforcement mechanism for the Attorney-General to prevent fraud in connection with public offerings of securities and, as a general rule, the statute does not authorize the commencement of an action by a private litigant to recover damages for violations of its provisions. However, the plaintiff argues that an exception to the general rule has been adopted, authorizing a private cause of action by a board of managers of a condominium against its sponsor for violations of the Martin Act. The plaintiff relies on the decision of the Appellate Division, First Department, in East End Owners Corp. v Roc-East End Assocs. (128 AD2d 366), which was decided between the date of argument and the date of the decision by the Court of Appeals in CPC Intl. v McKesson Corp. (supra). In East End Owners Corp. v Roc-East End Assocs. (supra), the First Department held that a cooperative’s board of directors—the functional equivalent of a condominium’s board of managers—could bring a private action to recover damages for a violation of General Business Law § 352-e.

Although one court recently opined that the holding in CPC Intl. v McKesson Corp. (supra) did not impliedly overrule the exception carved out by the First Department’s decision in [36]*36East End Owners Corp. v Roc-East End Assocs. (supra) (see, Armory Owners v Armory Estates, NYU, Dec. 30, 1988, at 19, col 1), we arrive at a contrary conclusion.

In CPC Intl. v McKesson Corp. (supra), the Court of Appeals was confronted with the issue of whether there is an implied private cause of action to recover damages for violations of the antifraud provisions of the Martin Act (see, General Business Law § 352-c). Before a violation of a statutory provision gives rise to an implied private cause of action to recover damages, the court noted that it must be shown that the plaintiff belongs to the class of persons whom the Legislature intended to benefit and that a private right of action would be clearly in furtherance of the legislative purpose (CPC Intl. v McKesson Corp., supra; Burns Jackson Miller Summit & Spitzer v Lindner, 59 NY2d 314, 329). The majority of the Court of Appeals found that the Martin Act and specifically General Business Law § 352-c, which was the basis of the action before it, did not meet the second part of this two-prong test. The decision reads, in pertinent part (CPC Intl. v McKesson Corp., supra, at 276-277): "The majority of this court holds that an implied private action is not consistent with the legislative scheme underlying the Martin Act and, specifically, section 352-c; that the specific purpose of the statute was to create a statutory mechanism in which the Attorney-General would have broad regulatory and remedial powers to prevent fraudulent securities practices by investigating and intervening at the first indication of possible securities fraud on the public and, thereafter, if appropriate, to commence civil or criminal prosecution; and that consistency of purpose with the statute includes consistency with this enforcement mechanism (see, General Business Law §§ 352, 353, 353-a, 354, 358; Kaufmann, Practice Commentaries, McKinney’s Cons Laws of NY, Book 19, General Business Law art 23-A, at 19-20)”.

The language of the decision in CPC Intl. v McKesson Corp. (supra) indicates that the majority of the Court of Appeals concluded that an implied private action was inconsistent with the legislative scheme underlying the Martin Act. This conclusion was not restricted to General Business Law § 352-c, which prohibits various fraudulent and deceitful practices in the distribution, exchange, sale and purchase of securities. The Martin Act includes section 352-e (see, Scarsdale Manor Owners v Wolloch, 106 AD2d 439, 440), the statutory provision addressed by the First Department in East End Owners Corp.

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150 A.D.2d 32, 545 N.Y.S.2d 343, 1989 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 11572, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/board-of-managers-v-fairways-at-north-hills-nyappdiv-1989.