Justice Judith J. Gische
Hubshman is a shareholder in the 1010 Tenants Corporation, the corporation that owns the residential cooperative located at 1010 Fifth Avenue. She brought an action on her own behalf and derivatively against the co-op, the board, its individual members, the property manager, the managing agent, and their lawyers. Hubshman claimed they failed to properly maintain the building in good repair, as required by the proprietary lease, and that they concealed or tried to conceal from shareholders dangerous problems existing in the building’s chimney B-line fireplaces and flues. Hubshman further alleged the board, aided and abetted by the property manager and its managing agent, went so far as to encourage residents to use their fireplaces despite the chimney problem. She added that, as a result, smoke, fumes and soot have regularly seeped into her apartment for decades. The court found that Hubshman sufficiently pleaded a cause of action against the board of directors for breach of fiduciary duty based on claims that it delayed action in having the B-line chimney and attendant dangerous condition properly repaired.
