Discrimination and Punishment

Published: May 30, 2013, midnight

In 1997, a federal jury found that the board of the Beekman Hill House co-op had illegally discriminated against an interracial couple. The couple was awarded $640,000 in damages. Of this, board president Nick Biondi was personally liable for $125,000 in punitive damages. Every few years, that case, and others like it, sends fear throughout the community. Today’s episode of Legal Talk – with Dean Roberts, partner in Norris McLaughlin & Marcus and Stuart Wurtzel, partner in Tane, Waterman & Wurtzel – explores how board members can protect themselves from this kind of financial disaster.