Berish v. Bornstein, 21 Mass. L. Rptr. 530 (2006)

Citation: Berish v. Bornstein, 21 Mass. L. Rptr. 530 (2006)
Parent Document: Berish v. Bornstein, 21 Mass. L. Rptr. 530 (2006)
Jurisdiction: Massachusetts (state)
Effective Date: 2006-05-22
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/8356288/berish-v-bornstein/ ↗

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The defendants contend that all of the plaintiffs’ claims are time-barred because numerous individual unit owners, as well as Chairman of the Board of Trustees Stuart Bomstein, had knowledge of extensive water problems, including sliding door and skylight leaks, as early as 1983. With respect to accrual of a condominium trust’s claim, “it is the collective knowledge of the Trustees and their agents that constitutes the knowledge of the Trust for purposes of identifying when a cause of action accrues.” Harris v. McIntyre, 2000 WL 942559 at *4-5 (Mass.Super.Ct. June 27, 2000) (Gants, J.) (rejecting the argument that the knowledge of individual unit owners governs because individual owners do not have a fiduciary duly to the Trust and their ability to bring a derivative action regarding common areas is restricted). Accord Celotex Corp., Inc. v. Gracy Meadow Owners Assoc., 847 S.W.2d 384, 391 (Tex.App. 1993) (declining to impute unit owner’s knowledge of defect to homeowners’ association for purposes of the statute of limitations). Thus, the fact that individual unit owners were aware of certain defects is relevant to accrual of the statute of limitations only if they reported such defects to the Board of Trustees.

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