HOAleader.com - Tip of the Week - August 21, 2020
Published: Fri, 08/21/20
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Why Condo/HOA Boards Should Care About This Landlord Who Tried But Failed to Do the Right Thing
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In this week's tip, we give you all you need to know about a recent Iowa Supreme Court case in which the court sided with a woman who sued her landlord over another tenant's emotional support animal.
The case has two big takeaways for condo and HOA boards: First, the manager in Iowa worked really hard to avoid this lawsuit. Second, in its ruling, the court noted how murky the law is.
The case is Cohen v. Clark, and it started in November 2015 with a woman, Karen Cohen, with pet allergies who moved into a no-pets apartment building. Later, another tenant, David Clark, moved in. In August 2016, Clark sought a waiver of the no-pets policy to accommodate an emotional support dog for his mental illness, submitting a note from a psychiatrist.
Faced with competing accommodation claims, Jeffrey Clark, the manager for the landlord (no relation to the tenant), tried to satisfy both. First, he contacted residents asking if any had allergies; Cohen responded that she did. Then he contacted the Iowa Civil Rights Commission for guidance. During a phone call, Clark asked a staffer if he could move the newer tenant to another building that permitted pets; the ICRC staffer said that wasn't reasonable. The staffer advised the manager to attempt to accommodate both tenants. The manager therefore allowed the dog and directed Clark and Cohen to use different stairways. He also provide an air purifier to Cohen for her allergy.
No success. Cohen still suffered allergy attacks. In September 2017, she sued her landlord for breach of her lease's no-pets policy and a breach of the quiet enjoyment of her unit. The landlord's defense was essentially: I had no choice but to accommodate both under the state's civil rights act.
As evidence of how murky the law is on this issue, the small claims court dismissed the case, finding the landlord acted reasonably in accommodating both tenants. On appeal, the district court also dismissed because the law is unclear on emotional support animals, while at the same time finding the landlord should have denied the request for the emotional support dog due to Cohen's allergies.
The state supreme court, calling the matter one that's very fact specific, concluded the landlord should have denied the request for an emotional support animal. Its reasoning: Cohen was there first, and the dog presented a "direct threat to her health."
The court stressed that its ruling wasn't particularly useful for every case going forward: "Our balancing in this case is not a one-size-fits-all test that will create the same result under different circumstances, such as when the animal at issue is a service animal for a visually disabled person."
The court got this one right, according to Stephen M. Guerra, managing partner of Makower Abbate Guerra Wegner Vollmer in Farmington Hills, Mich., who practices primarily in condominium and subdivision association law. Find out why, along with why you should expect to see more of these cases in your own community, in our new article:
https://www.hoaleader.com/members/4177.cfm
Best regards,
Matt Humphrey
President
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