Shareholder in a Cooperative Apartment Corporation Had Right to Inspect Books

The Second Department determined a shareholder in a cooperative apartment corporation (Acropolis) had a right to inspect the corporate books, including the  minutes of board meetings:

…[T]he petitioner satisfied the requirements of Business Corporation Law § 624(b), and is, therefore, entitled to a list of shareholders and their mailing addresses … as well as all Board meeting minutes from 2001 to the present. Moreover, in light of the terms of the relevant proprietary lease …, the petitioner established his contractual right to inspect all of Acropolis’s books of account from 2001 to the present. With respect to the petitioner’s entitlement to inspect additional corporate documents, “a shareholder has a common-law right to inspect a corporation’s books and records if the inspection is sought in good faith and for a valid purpose” … . Contrary to Acropolis’s contention, the Supreme Court was not required to hold a hearing prior to issuing its order and judgment directing it to allow the petitioner to review its books and records, because no substantial question of fact existed as to the petitioner’s good faith and purpose in seeking Acropolis’s books and records… . Matter of Goldstein v Acropolis Gardens Realty Corp, 2014 NY Slip Op 02436, 2nd Dept 4-9-14