Ran the condominium's repair contracting in its own interest rather than the owners' — the board's own claim against the managing agent it had hired.

No tribunal ever decided this.

Board of Mgrs. of Brightwater Towers Condominium v. FirstService Residential New York, Inc. · 193 AD3d 672 (2d Dept 2021) · Sup Ct Kings County · Index 505484/2017

No court has decided whether this conduct occurred. This decision resolved a procedural question. Nothing here is a finding that anyone did anything.

Outcome

Open — allegation, not a finding

Filed

2017-03-17

Last decision

2021-04-07

Elapsed

9.4 yrs · open

Brought by

board

Posture

interlocutory appeal

What the court held

A managing agent may owe a condominium a fiduciary duty independent of its management contract, and allegations of misappropriation and self-dealing pleaded with specificity are not duplicative of a breach-of-contract claim. The Second Department reversed the dismissal of the fiduciary-duty cause of action and reversed the disqualification of the board's law firm. NOTHING WAS DECIDED ABOUT WHETHER THE AGENT DID ANY OF IT.

“Managing agents of a condominium may owe a fiduciary duty to the condominium, depending on the functions they assume”
193 AD3d at 674

Outcome in full

ALLEGATION, NOT A FINDING. On appeal from a CPLR 3211(a)(7) dismissal, the Second Department accepted the complaint's allegations as true, as that standard requires, and held they stated a claim. The fiduciary-duty cause of action was reinstated and the disqualification of the board's counsel reversed, with costs. The underlying conduct remains unadjudicated.

What it cost

Not disclosed. No decision in this case states a figure, and we publish no estimate. Why costs are mostly blank.

What would have prevented this

A licensure and bonding regime for managing agents, with a complaint channel and audit rights over the operating account, would have surfaced an alleged misappropriation without a four-year interlocutory appeal. The board here had to sue, at the association's expense, to establish only that its claim could be heard.

Sources

Read in full and verified 2026-08-04.

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