Imagine all the people, living life in peace.

Are the days of airing the Dakota's dirty laundry finally nearing an end? Hedge fund manager Alphonse Fletcher Jr.’s lawsuit against the board of the fabled Upper West Side co-op still stands, but he and the lawsuit are standing all by themselves.

The two law firms representing Mr. Fletcher have been allowed to withdraw from the case, according to The Wall Street Journal, citing unpaid bills and irreconcilable differences—the culprits that seem to end every once-happy relationship.

The unpaid bill part is particularly bad news from Mr. Fletcher, given that the crux of his lawsuit against the co-op board is that he was financially fit to buy another apartment neighboring his own and that the board's denial of his bid amounted to discrimination (Mr. Fletcher is black). The board has claimed that the turn-down was the result of Mr. Fletcher's shaky financials.

Mr. Fletcher has, apparently, had problems paying off his legal teams in the past. The Journal reports that court filings by Mr. Fletcher's fund show that when it filed for bankruptcy-court protection, it owed more than $2 million to law firms.

The allegations in Mr. Fletcher's lawsuit extended well beyond his own personal situation (he claimed, among other things, that the board made ethnic slurs against prospective residents and denied another black resident, Roberta Flack, the right to install a bathtub in her apartment), but it could be much harder for Mr. Fletcher to win his suit if there are strong indications that the board had good reason to think he couldn't afford to carry a third apartment.

Moreover, finding another firm to take the case pro-bono seems unlikely. Law firms don't usually do charity work for Wall Street tycoons who are miffed that their application to buy a third apartment in a tony c0-op was rejected.

Mr. Fletcher has until December 20 to hire a new lawyer, although extensions often allow lawsuits to live on for years and years, so we don't necessarily expect to see much change in the next few weeks. But who knows? Maybe Mr. Fletcher will drop the lawsuit, maybe co-op board president Bruce Barnes will decide he doesn't want to sell his palatial apartment for $29.6 million after all, maybe by next year's autumn potluck the building, if not the world, will live as one.

kvelsey@observer.com

The 3-bedroom, 3-bath apartment, listed for $29.6 million with Brown Harris Stevens broker John Burger, features not only shuttered windows, hard-carved mahogany woodwork and pocket doors (swoon), but neighbors like Lauren Bacall, Yoko Ono and Roberta Flack (double swoon), who gather in the courtyard for an annual fall potluck, to which Ms. Ono is known to bring a platter of sushi (we've fainted).

Of course, all has not been well between the historic building's neighbors of late. The racial discrimination suit filed against the co-op by resident Alphonse Fletcher Jr., a well-known black investor and former president of the building's board, is still wending its way through the courts. (Mr. Fletcher, who was blocked from buying an adjacent apartment in the building for his mother, alleged that the board had discriminated against him and other minorities).

And in February of last year, Dutch courts moved to block the sale of a Dutch investor Jan-Dirk Paarlberg's first-floor apartment after he was convicted of fraud in connection with a $23.5 million extortion scheme.

The New York Post speculates that Mr. Fletcher's lawsuit may have something to do with the building's most recent vacancy. The Post reports that the seller of the beautiful six-floor space is none other than Bruce Barnes, president of the co-op board.

The Post quotes an email that Mr. Barnes allegedly sent out yesterday, giving his desire to downsize and spend more time out of the city as the reason for selling the apartment.

“As of this afternoon, I have listed my Dakota apartment for sale . . . For seventeen years, I have loved the Dakota as both a building and a community, but my apartment is very large for two people, and several of the rooms are rarely used."

And while it's hard to imagine anyone wanting to move out of this apartment, downsizing seems like the most reasonable explanation. After all, a lawsuit would be a good reason to cede a seat on the board, but it's hardly to leave the building.

Mr. Burger told the Observer that the seller was a "philanthropist and private investor" who had lived in the apartment for the past 17 years, but would not reveal his identity. Public records list Mr. Barnes address in the building, technically 1 West 72nd Street.

Regardless of why he's departing, the apartment is sure to attract many suitors (Mr. Burger told us his phone has been ringing off the hook since the listing went up).

Besides the park views and beautiful architecture, the buyer will be able to enjoy a 24-foot library adjacent to a 29-foot living room (both facing the park) as well as a bathroom with honed onyx and an open shower with five vintage shower heads.

"It's one of the biggest apartments in the building and we haven't seen an apartment like this above the tree-line in a long time," Mr. Burger said. (The last big, park-facing apartment on the market was Leonard Bernstein's old place, purchased by Milstein heir Philip Milstein and wife Cheryl for $20.5 million in 2008—a record-breaking  price for the building. But even that one didn't clear the tree-line, Mr. Bruger noted).

Of course, when it comes to the Dakota, apartments do not always go to the highest bidder. Aspiring residents must make it past the building's board, which has famously rejected the likes of Antonio Banderas and Melanie Griffith.

kvelsey@observer.com