New York Court of Appeals

Kooleraire Service and Installation Corp. v. Board of Education of the City of New York

March 3, 197128 N.Y.2d 101

Summary

The Court reversed the lower courts' judgment, holding that the Board of Education could not rely on the lack of a comptroller's certification—a condition precedent it itself prevented—to defeat the contractor's breach of contract claim. The decision rests on the principle that a party may not frustrate a condition precedent and then invoke its failure as a defense.