Co-op's Fact Findings Held Binding on Eviction Court

This commentary discusses ' critically ' a rule recently adopted by a unanimous Court of Appeals in a case in which a housing cooperative was attempting to evict a tenant deemed objectionable by his fellow shareholders. 40 W. 67th St. Corp. v. Pullman (5/13/03). In order to understand fully the significance of the Pullman rule, it must be viewed in context. The general subject is the power of a landlord to terminate a tenancy based on a lease provision authorizing such action if the tenant becomes objectionable. More specifically, the issue is what role the courts are to play in determining whether or not the tenant did or did not do the things that he is accused of doing, which things, we will assume, all would agree would render him objectionable.  The discussion proceeds on the basis of three hypothetical cases.