On Dec. 18, the Supreme Court's petit bench ruled against a man from Fukuoka Prefecture who was suing the management association (kanri kumiai) of his condominium for firing him as its president of the board (rijicho) because the regulations of the association contained no stipulations for dismissal.
Lower courts had ruled in favor of the plaintiff, but the Supreme Court thought otherwise and sent the case back to the Fukuoka High Court, implying that the association could fire the man. It is the first time a court has ruled in favor of a management association in such a case and, according to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei) report of the decision, the precedent will have a profound effect on condominium management rules, since it recognizes management associations as holding the primary decision-making power in such matters.
The problem goes back to 2013, when the plaintiff decided unilaterally to change the building's kanri kaisha, the company that manages the property. The rest of the management association, which is made up of all the condo owners in the building, objected to the change, but the president said it was his decision to make. A majority of the association's members voted to fire the president. He sued, saying the dismissal was invalid, because while the rules said that the association appointed the president through majority vote, they said nothing about removing the president.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.