Examples of owners throwing out board decisions because meeting procedures weren't followed

If this is New York, my understanding is there are no Open Meeting laws.

Thanks. Correct, there are no open meeting laws for HOAs in NY (as open meeting laws would go against the grain of everything in NY real estate being a scam).

My question is perhaps more precise: if a HOA board or owner meeting isn't done in accordance with the HOA's governing documents or state law, then have you seen actions approved at the meeting thrown out?

It's typically easier, less expensive and quicker to gather support and recall or simply not re-elect the individuals to the board at the next annual meeting.

Taking the issue to court can take years.

For the archives: I think the biggest problem is that there has been a 'course of conduct' by the Board for years and no Owner/member/shareholder/director complained. As you may be aware, such circumstances can and have led courts to rule that the course of conduct is lawful (at least for the many past years where the course of conduct was observed), and that the Bylaws saying the opposite of what the course of conduct has been are null and void, at least to the extent that someone files suit complaining about past practices.

Minutes need to be kept, regardless of bad past practices, I would imagine in New York there are laws that would apply to Non-profit corporations keeping minutes and the access to such minutes by the members. I would check on that. Then on the Articles of incorporation with the state as to the BOD's responsibilities, etc.

If the State law indicates members or shareholders have a right to the minutes of the corporation, then a reasonable person would expect that the BOD/secretary keep such minutes.

Also, I believe the board is to make "reasonable" decisions in the interest of the Corporation, minutes are in the interest of the Corporation. If you are not keeping minutes as they are lazy or it is just too much work, then whoever has this theory or opinion needs to go. Minutes protect the corporation and its members.

That seems like a draconian outcome?

Draco (/ˈdreɪkoʊ/; Greek: Δράκων, Drakōn; fl. c. 7th century BC), also called Drako or Drakon, was the first recorded legislator of Athens in Ancient Greece. He replaced the prevailing system of oral law and blood feud by a written code to be enforced only by a court of law.

I disagree that overturning the boards' decision would be draconian, by the definition above, your BOD, seems to be conducting itself orally and not documenting anything, It appears Draco did not like a system such as your BOD's past practices and made a written code to be enforced by law.

To overturn anything your board has done, I think would be easy for any attorney as it sounds as if there are no records. The Plaintiff would have the burden of proof initially, which this burden would easily be shifted to the defendant (BOD), once the burden of proof is shifted to the Board, what proof do they have with no minutes? And not following the by-laws. Ruling in favor of the plaintiff, on a summary judgment, as the defendant neglected to keep standard and proper documentation, which would have served as evidence in this case for both parties.

Thanks. One HOA where I owned a property had a similar glitch in its meeting notice- I believe the wrong year was listed. The HOA lawyer said that a court wouldn't care (that was always his excuse whenever anyone pointed out mistakes in his work) and the board didn't do anything about it. I think that having the HOA get the owners who attend the meeting affirmatively waive notice of the meeting would help "fix" the defective notice, but that doesn't totally fix the situation.

Thanks JohnC46!