Fletcher v Dakota, Inc. (2012 NY Slip Op 05338)
Fletcher v Dakota, Inc.
2012 NY Slip Op 05338 [99 AD3d 43]
July 3, 2012
Acosta, J.
Appellate Division, First Department
Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431.
As corrected through Wednesday, October 31, 2012
[*1]
Alphonse Fletcher, Jr., et al., Respondents,
v
The Dakota, Inc., et al., Appellants, et al., Defendants.
First Department, July 3, 2012
Fletcher v Dakota, 2010 NY Slip Op 33619(U), modified.
APPEARANCES OF COUNSEL
Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP, New York City (Christine H. Chung, Jake M. Shields and Maaren A. Choksi of counsel), and Balber Pickard Maldonado & Van Der Tuin, PC, New York City (John Van Der Tuin of counsel), for appellants.
Vladeck, Waldman, Elias & Engelhard, P.C., New York City (Milton L. Williams, Jr. and Maia Goodell of counsel), and Kasowitz, [*2]Benson, Torres & Friedman LLP, New York City (Marc E. Kasowitz, David E. Ross, Trevor J. Welch and Kanchana Wangkeo Leung of counsel), for respondents.
{**99 AD3d at 47} OPINION OF THE COURT
Acosta, J.
Plaintiff Alphonse Fletcher, Jr., an African-American resident of defendant coop the Dakota, alleges that the Dakota and, as relevant to this appeal, two of its directors (defendants Barnes and Nitze) discriminated against him, inter alia, on the basis of race in refusing to approve his purchase of an apartment adjacent to one he owns for the purpose of combining the two. According to Fletcher, the case is about retaliation against him for sticking up for the rights of others, including minority and Jewish shareholders and applicants at the Dakota, and then to further defame him when he brought the discriminatory conduct to light.