HABITAT ANSWERS: In 2003, New York's highest court upheld a co-op board's decision to terminate a shareholder's proprietary lease and cancel his stock in the co-op in 40 West 67th Street vs. Pullman.
In making its decision, the court held that the co-op's actions should be judged by the Business Judgment Rule, which provides that co-op decision-making will be upheld unless it can be shown that a board has acted outside of its authority, in a way that does not legitimately further the corporation's purposes, or in bad faith.
However, co-ops cannot avoid court all together; it still must sue in court to evict or eject a problem shareholder — except in the highly unlikely event that the shareholder voluntarily surrenders the apartment.
Furthermore, in the Pullman case, the co-op's proprietary lease had an uncommon twist to a standard provision. Determining that a shareholder's lease should be terminated because of objectionable conduct required the approval of not only the board but also at least two-thirds of shareholders. Therefore, in this case, the board was able to show that it was not acting vindictively or in a shortsighted manner.
If your board is contemplating a Pullman-type termination it must:
Once the board has gotten legal advice and determined that eviction is the only resolution to this problem, it can move forward and you can eventually enjoy some peace and quiet.
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