Hon. Arthur F. Engoron of the New York State Supreme Court yesterday issued a Decision and Order in favor of the co-op on all points.

The Court dismissed the plaintiffs’ lawsuit and denied their motion for sanctions, and said that the co-op is entitled to recover its attorneys’ fees from the plaintiffs (although the amount to be recovered still has to be decided separately).

You can read the full Decision and Order, which knocks down pretty much every argument the plaintiffs tried to throw at the proverbial wall.

But perhaps most instructive for certain members of our co-op community, who seem to feel that every significant decision should be put to a shareholder vote, is the following:

As a matter of public policy, the Board was under no contractual, legal, or equitable duty to involve more than 1,700 cooperators in its decision-making process.  Rather, the Board was elected specifically to conduct the day-to-day affairs of the co-op and to take entire charge of the property, interests, business, and transactions of the co-op.  It would be nearly impossible for co-op boards to function if every time they had to act, they had to entertain potentially endless debate involving numerous varying positions.