Schoninger v. Yardarm Beach Homeowners' Ass'n

134 A.D.2d 1, 523 N.Y.S.2d 523, 1987 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 50858
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedDecember 28, 1987
StatusPublished
Cited by63 cases

This text of 134 A.D.2d 1 (Schoninger v. Yardarm Beach Homeowners' Ass'n) 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
Schoninger v. Yardarm Beach Homeowners' Ass'n, 134 A.D.2d 1, 523 N.Y.S.2d 523, 1987 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 50858 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1987).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Brown, J.

On this appeal, we are asked to decide, inter alia, whether the corporate business judgment rule should be applied to insulate the good-faith action of the board of managers of an unincorporated condominium from judicial review. We conclude that the rule should be so applied.

The plaintiff is the owner of a condominium unit located in the Yardarm Beach Condominium I in the Village of Westhampton Beach (hereinafter Yardarm) and has commenced this [3]*3action for injunctive relief against the members of the board of managers of the condominium (hereinafter the board), both individually and as members of the board, and the Yardarm Beach Homeowners’ Association, Inc. (hereinafter the Association), a corporation which owns the common facilities shared by the condominium unit owners of Yardarm and its nearby affiliated condominiums, Yardarm Beach Condominium II and Yardarm Beach Condominium III. This litigation is the latest in a series of actions and proceedings initiated by the plaintiff against certain of the present defendants and others connected with the ownership and management of Yardarm or having administrative responsibilities over its operation, charging them, inter alia, with fraud, violations of building codes and failure to remedy various unsafe conditions on the premises.

In the instant action, the plaintiff seeks an affirmative injunction compelling the defendants to "do those things necessary to collect, use and expend assessments to maintain, care for and preserve the homes, buildings and other common elements and to make such repairs as are necessary and required.” In her complaint, the plaintiff alleges that, beginning in January 1979 she informed both the board and the Association that various of the common properties of the condominium had been improperly designed and constructed and were being improperly maintained. She states that she both initiated litigation and presented to the defendants architectural and engineering reports indicating the specific defects. She charged that the board had "wholly neglected its duties with regard to the maintenance and preservation of the common properties” and, in addition, asserts that there were several outstanding violations issued by the local building inspector charging that the condominium’s stairways were in an unsafe condition and that the situation had gone uncorrected for over a year. The complaint also charged that the exterior and structural steel was rapidly deteriorating and corroding, posing a threat to the integrity of the building, and that the condition, despite its having been brought to the attention of the board, had remained untreated, that the siding material on the building had not been properly treated so as to be flame retardant and the board had taken no measures to correct the condition, and that the entire building was constructed in a manner which impeded access for firefighting activities.

On or about April 20, 1983, the defendants served an [4]*4amended answer denying the principal allegations of the complaint, asserting various affirmative defenses, including res judicata and unclean hands, and interposing two counterclaims against the plaintiff, the first for past-due amounts owed to both the board and the Association, and the second for legal fees incurred in connection with the recovery of those amounts.

The plaintiff thereupon moved to dismiss the affirmative defenses of res judicata and unclean hands and, in response, the defendants cross-moved for summary judgment on the ground of res judicata based on the determinations in three prior lawsuits and two administrative proceedings.

By order dated January 6, 1984, the Supreme Court, Suffolk County (Jones, J.), denied the plaintiff’s motion and granted the defendants’ cross motion to the extent of striking certain allegations contained in the complaint on the ground that they had been raised and ruled upon in prior litigation. The court held, however, that while certain of the allegations had been litigated previously, the basis of the action, i.e., to require certain upkeep, maintenance and repair of the condominium, did not arise solely out of facts previously litigated. Thus, it declined to dismiss the action.

In March 1985, the defendants once more moved for summary judgment, arguing that the sole remaining allegations of the complaint concerned alleged violations of the local building ordinance and the failure to take corrective measures to halt the deterioration and corrosion of the exterior and structural steel, which had since been remedied. Referring to a letter from the Village Attorney for the Village of Westhampton Beach, the defendants pointed out that the violations had been corrected in 1982 and that there were currently no outstanding violations. With respect to their alleged failure to take measures to correct the deterioration and corrosion of the exterior and structural steel, the defendants pointed out that that problem had been given constant attention and preventative maintenance and repairs made from 1978 through 1982, and when the problems persisted, they had been remedied as part of a comprehensive $1,000,000 repair and rehabilitation program undertaken in 1984. Therefore, the defendants argued, since the complaint sought an injunction ordering them to remedy certain alleged unsafe conditions and those conditions had already been remedied, the complaint should be dismissed as moot. In addition, the defendants argued that the authority and responsibility for man[5]*5agement of the property of the condominium was delegated under the condominium’s bylaws to the board and that its decisions made in the exercise of its business judgment were not subject to judicial scrutiny. The defendants also sought summary judgment on their counterclaims.

In response, the plaintiff conceded that the repair work on the exterior and structural steel had been performed, but criticized the quality and manner in which that work had been performed and asserted that the existence of factual issues as to whether the work had been performed in a reasonable manner precluded the granting of summary judgment. The plaintiff submitted an affidavit of an architect retained by her as an expert, who leveled certain criticisms at the manner in which the repair and rehabilitation of the steel had been carried out.

The defendants countered, inter alia, with affidavits from both the project director of the engineering firm and superintendent of the contractor which had carried out the repair program, attesting to the soundness of the work which had been performed.

In the order appealed from dated October 7, 1985, the Supreme Court (Cannavo, J.), denied that branch of the defendants’ motion which was for summary judgment dismissing the complaint on the ground of mootness, stating: "Material issues of fact with regard to the scope, nature, quality and sufficiency of defendants’ remedial action are reflected in the conflicting affidavits submitted by the parties’ experts, and as to whether the actions engaged in by defendants were and are effective, reasonable, or were contributing factors increasing the extent of damages, costs, repairs and assessments, requiring trial”.

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Bluebook (online)
134 A.D.2d 1, 523 N.Y.S.2d 523, 1987 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 50858, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/schoninger-v-yardarm-beach-homeowners-assn-nyappdiv-1987.