Condominiums
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“Polly want a cracker?” Lessons from DOJ press releases.
The Department of Justice issues a press release every time it enters into a settlement agreement of some kind. The foundations of accessibility law are the statutes and the cases applying them, but there are a lot of practical lessons to be learned from the settlements obtained by the DOJ, so it is worth looking Continue reading
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Temporary profits can mean a permanent problem under the ADA
What’s wrong with this picture? You can be excused if you don’t immediately think, “no accessible parking,” but that might be the first thing that would come to mind for the defendant in Langer v. G.W. Properties, L.P., , 2016 WL 3419299, (S.D. Cal. June 21, 2016). Langer serves as a reminder that a business not usually Continue reading
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Emotional Support Animals – Just say “NO” to bogus ESA letters.
Apartment owners and managers are familiar with the internet industry providing junk disability letters for pet owners. You only have to go to the web to find a dozen or more places that will sell a letter from some kind of alleged therapist certifying that you are disabled and your pet cat, koala or kangaroo is a Continue reading
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Disparate Impact – Will it now apply to disability discrimination under the FHA?
On June 25 the Supreme Court held that FHA discrimination claims can be based on disparate impact. Texas Dep’t of Hous. & Cmty. Affairs v. Inclusive Communities Project, Inc., 2015 WL 2473449, at *9 (U.S. June 25, 2015). At first blush this doesn’t seem to have much to do with accessibility claims. When we talk about the Continue reading
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Condominium and Homeowners Associations beware: the FHA can apply after a sale.
U.S. v. Avatar Properties, Inc., 2015 WL 2130540 (D. New Hampshire 2015) is a little case with a big reminder: condominium and homeowners associations fail to accommodate disabilities at their own risk. The law isn’t perfectly settled, but it is safe to say based on this and other cases that ignoring an accommodation request is Continue reading
