suing trustee for breach of fiduciary duty

SUING TRUSTEE FOR BREACH OF FIDUCIARY DUTY TRIAL

The Appeals Court affirmed that principle yet again in 2013, see Finnegan v. 1122, *1 (2009) (unpublished).Īgain in 2010, the Appeals Court emphasized that no fiduciary duty is owed to individual unit owners.

SUING TRUSTEE FOR BREACH OF FIDUCIARY DUTY TRIAL

In 2009, the Appeals Court affirmed the trial court’s dismissal of breach of fiduciary duty claims because no fiduciary duty was owed to the individual unit holder. Likewise, in 2005, the Appeals Court affirmed a judgment in favor of defendants on breach of fiduciary duty claims because the defendants owed no fiduciary duty to plaintiff, an individual unit holder. For example, in 2002, the Supreme Judicial Court affirmed a grant of summary judgment for defendants on a breach of fiduciary duty claim brought by individual owners of commercial condominium units, citing to Cigal and reiterating that, “as matter of law, members of a governing board of a condominium association, in the capacity of the trustees here, owe no fiduciary duty to individual condominium owners.” Office One, Inc. Why is that answer surprising? Because notwithstanding the clarity in the law, individual unit owners continue to bring unsuccessful breach of fiduciary duty claims against condominium boards and their members. But, you may be asking, to whom is that fiduciary duty owed? The answer is surprisingly clear: In Massachusetts, members of condominium boards owe a fiduciary duty to the condominium association (or trust), not to any individual condominium owner. It is a well-established general principle that an organization’s board has a fiduciary duty to the organization.Ĭonsistent with this general principle, members (or trustees) of a condominium’s board also have certain fiduciary duties. It is an obligation to act for the benefit of another. Do you know what fiduciary duties your condominium board owes? And to whom the duty is owed?įirst, what, exactly, is a fiduciary duty? The nature of fiduciary duties depends on the nature of the relationship between the parties but, at its simplest, it is a duty of loyalty and good faith.

Suing trustee for breach of fiduciary duty