FirstService Residential Hosts Symposium to Educate Board Members Avoiding Liability Exposure

FirstService Residential, New York’s leading property management company, hosted a panel of leading legal experts on July 19, 2017.  More than 130 of the company’s clients, prospective clients and property managers attended the interactive symposium, which examined ways that condominium and cooperative board members can minimize their liability exposure.  

 

“When conducting business on behalf of the association, board members can create potential liability for their building as well as expose themselves to personal risk,” said Dan Wurtzel, president, FirstService Residential New York. “Any perceived breach of fiduciary responsibilities – including allegations of wrongful acts, financial mismanagement, negligence and errors in judgement – can lead to legal action. We organized this event to help our volunteer board members minimize and/or avoid claims that could have significant personal, professional and financial consequences.” 

 

High interest in a similar event held by the company in March prompted a continuation in this style of discussion and education, this time with a different panel of attorneys. Panelists included Benjamin C. Kirschenbaum, vice president and general counsel, FirstService Residential; Adam D. Finkelstein, partner, Kagan Lubic Lepper Finkelstein & Gold; Dean M. Roberts, partner, Norris McLaughlin & Marcus and Phyllis H. Weisberg, partner, Montgomery McCracken Walker & Rhoads.

 

To optimize this experience, attendees were able to submit questions in advance, which were directly responded to by panelists. The panel also took live questions from the audience. Topics included popular issues across the industry, including quality of life issues; service, emotional support and therapy animals; smoke, noise and odor complaints; requests to review corporate records and real estate tax assessments, protests and the impact of abatements.