White Plains, NY, partners Eric Cheng and Steven L. Young represented a homeowners association (HOA) in a case brought by a pro se homeowner in his capacity as a unit owner and former association employee alleging eight causes of action, five of which were seeking a declaration that the association violated its by-laws by giving preferential treatment to the co-defendant, a former member of the Board of Trustees, who we also defended. The plaintiff also alleged that he was owed overtime for his work and that the association retaliated against him and defamed him when he was terminated. The lawsuit sought seven figures for compensatory and punitive damages.

After the Note of Issue was filed, Eric and Steve filed a motion for summary judgment arguing that the business judgment rule precluded judicial review of the actions of the HOA, absent evidence of self-dealing and/or willful misconduct, and that the HOA was protected by a qualified immunity with respect to the alleged defamatory statements about the Plaintiff to its members. The court issued a 13-page decision, citing extensively from the arguments raised in our motion,  dismissing plaintiff’s lawsuit in its entirety.