David Brauner on Methods for Upholding Your Fiduciary Duty as a Condo or Co-op Board Member
Wednesday, November 11, 2015
David Brauner (Counsel, New York) was quoted extensively in an article published by The Cooperator, a monthly publication for the Coop/Condo industry. The article, entitled "Upholding Your Fiduciary Duty," discusses the fiduciary duties of members of cooperative and condominium boards.
- "In general, a board member has a duty to act, in that capacity, only in the general and common interest of the entity and not in the service of his or her personal interest or bias. This relationship of trust is denominated as a 'fiduciary' relationship."
- "Similarly, vendors should be selected on merit?not on personal relationships or because there's some financial benefit to the board member," Brauner says. "I would not, however, subscribe to an automatic prohibition on a building doing business with an entity with which a member has a connection. Indeed...such a connection may be of great value in board decisions, but there should be full disclosure, confirmation that the proposal is equal to or better than any other, and the interested board member should recuse him- or herself from advocacy for a particular vendor, and from the vote."
