§ 107 — Enforcement

New York § 107

• Jurisdiction: New York
• Law PBO: Public Officers
• Art. 7: Open Meetings Law

Text

§ 107. Enforcement. 1. Any aggrieved person shall have standing to\nenforce the provisions of this article against a public body by the\ncommencement of a proceeding pursuant to article seventy-eight of the\ncivil practice law and rules, or an action for declaratory judgment and\ninjunctive relief. In any such action or proceeding, if a court\ndetermines that a public body failed to comply with this article, the\ncourt shall have the power, in its discretion, upon good cause shown, to\ndeclare that the public body violated this article and/or declare the\naction taken in relation to such violation void, in whole or in part,\nwithout prejudice to reconsideration in compliance with this article. If\nthe court determines that a public body has violated this article, the\ncourt may require the members of the public body to participate in a\ntraining session concerning the obligations imposed by this article\nconducted by the staff of the committee on open government.\n An unintentional failure to fully comply with the notice provisions\nrequired by this article shall not alone be grounds for invalidating any\naction taken at a meeting of a public body. The provisions of this\narticle shall not affect the validity of the authorization, acquisition,\nexecution or disposition of a bond issue or notes.\n 2. In any proceeding brought pursuant to this section, costs and\nreasonable attorney fees may be awarded by the court, in its discretion,\nto the successful party. If a court determines that a vote was taken in\nmaterial violation of this article, or that substantial deliberations\nrelating thereto occurred in private prior to such vote, the court shall\naward costs and reasonable attorney's fees to the successful petitioner,\nunless there was a reasonable basis for a public body to believe that a\nclosed session could properly have been held.\n 3. The statute of limitations in an article seventy-eight proceeding\nwith respect to an action taken at executive session shall commence to\nrun from the date the minutes of such executive session have been made\navailable to the public.\n