Legal fees on co-op maintenance bill

[petrossian]

New York, NY

I live in a NYC co-op. About 2 years ago I had a dispute with the co-op board, we went to court, but never to trial. We settled by a series of agreements. The judge refused to award legal fees to either side. However, the co-op board put their legal fees on my maintenance bill. They refuse to take it off or answer my inquiries. It has gotten so that I am not able to figure out my monthly maintentance. I told them so and the managing agent doesn't answer.
If the judge said no legal fees to either side, is this considered contempt of court? Is there anything I can do? I don't want to sound
cliche, but this is deliberate. I hear they were angry they didn't win their case.

 

[You Are Guilty]

It's not quite that simple. First, you need to look to your Proprietary Lease to see what it says about attorneys fees. (FYI: I have seen dozens, if not more, PLs, and I have yet to see one that doesn't permit the imposition of attorneys fees in at least some circumstances. You need to find out exactly what those circumstances are).

As for the prior ruling of "no fees", that may or may not be binding. It hinges on what those fees were for, how the co-op went about assessing them, and the specific language used in the pleadings (and settlement stipulation). It can be daunting for a layperson.

So, you may want to consider running everything past a co-op/condo lawyer (low cost initial consults can be had here: http://www.nysba.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Find_a_Lawyer&Template=/CustomSource/LegalInfobyCounty.cfm&cty=lrs ). But if polite requests to "fix" your maintenance account haven't worked, it sounds like you may need a new suit started to get this all straightened out.