Kralik v. 239 East 79th Street Owners Corp.

OPINION OF THE COURT

Read, J.

Defendant owns the building located at 239 East 79th Street in Manhattan, which was converted to cooperative ownership in 1983. This appeal stems from a longstanding dispute over the rights of plaintiffs George and Sara Kralik as proprietary lessees and owners of the shares of the corporation purchased from the cooperative’s sponsor as unsold shares. We conclude that whether plaintiffs are holders of unsold shares should be determined solely by applying ordinary contract principles to interpret the terms of the documents defining their contractual relationship with…