Tenant Can't Get Attorney's Fees After Complaint About Short-Term Apartment Use

Co-op shareholder tenant sued landlord cooperative corporation to recover $13,000 in attorney’s fees spent in connection with a NYC administrative proceeding. Tenant claimed that landlord should indemnify her. A former co-op board member had called 311 to complain that tenant was illegally renting her apartment for short-term use. DOB and the NYC Fire Department investigated and issued violations against landlord based on illegal transient use of tenant’s apartment. Tenant sought to intervene by an attorney in city proceedings but wasn’t permitted to do so. The court ruled against tenant. The business judgment rule bars the court from looking into the actions of the co-op directors taken in good faith in the exercise of honest judgment in the legal and legitimate furtherance of corporate purposes. The court also rejected tenant’s claim that the former board member falsely accused her of illegal rentals. Craigslist and Airbnb listings advertised tenant’s apartment for periods as short as a week. 

Osberger v. 18 Mercer Equity Inc.: Index No. CV-23033-14/NY, NYLJ No. 1202748804292 (Civ. Ct. NY; 12/23/15; Goetz, J)