April is the cruellest month according to T.S. Eliot†, but it was really just busy for my practice and the courts. Here’s part one of our update on important decisions in the ADA and FHA world. We expect to be caught up after a long weekend of blogging and a couple of additional installments. More
Fair Housing Act
Fighting fake ESA’s – Guidance on what constitutes reliable evidence of disability
This week’s news is a year old, but very important for apartment owners and managers confronted by the increasing flood of fake emotional support animal requests.* In March of 2017 the Virginia Fair Housing Board, which carries out Virginia’s mandate for disability rights in housing, issued a formal guidance on what constitutes reliable evidence of a disability and a disability related need for an emotional support animal. You can download the guidance here, but here are the highlights. They are based on the Board’s position that reliable evidence of a disability can only come from someone who has a therapeutic relationship with the tenant. More
When does a mental impairment become a disability? Let the jury decide
When used in the context of a claim under the Fair Housing Act or Americans with Disabilities Act the words “disability” and “handicap” have specific legal meanings. Our last blog looked at a case, Houston v. DTN Operating,* discussing what a plaintiff must plead concerning her disability in a reasonable accommodation case. Today we’re looking another recent case, Haws v. Norman, 2017 WL 4221064 (D. Utah Sept. 20, 2017) that considers the next step – a motion for summary judgment by the plaintiff. There is plenty of interest in the opinion on related subjects**, but the Court’s ruling on proof of disability and necessity of accommodation is especially important to landlords who suspect a disability claim is not justified. More
Emotional Support Animal scams – good news from the Eastern District of Texas
The October 17, 2017 decision by Judge Amos Mazzant of the Eastern District of Texas in Houston v. DTN Operating Company et al., 2017 WL 4653246 (E.D.Tex 2017) is good news for landlords confronted by bogus internet diagnoses of disability. There is a vexing lack of authority concerning just what constitutes sufficient evidence of a disability to require a landlord to allow an emotional support animal, and Judge Mazzant’s opinion makes it clear that the kind of letter typically purchased on the internet (or supplied by local physicians who don’t understand the law) won’t do. More
The statute of limitations for FHA design/build cases – a guide for the perplexed.
Maimonides, author of the Guide for the Perplexed.
The Fair Housing Act requires that private lawsuits brought under 42 U.S.C. §3613 be filed within two years “after the occurrence or the termination of an alleged discriminatory housing practice.” Courts are not in universal agreement about what this means when applied to a failure to design or build apartments according to the standards in 42 U.S.C. §36014(f)(3)(C), so a developer or owner’s defense in a design/build case may depend on where the apartments are located. How can a national statute have regional variations? Well, somebody’s wrong. Here’s a brief “guide for perplexed.”
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