A Newburgh law firm has settled a civil rights suit claiming it refused to allow a disabled client into its offices with her service dog. Larkin, Axelrod, Ingrassia and Tetenbaum will pay $20,000 to Lauren Klejmont and a $5,000 penalty. It also agreed to adopt measures to prevent future discrimination based on disability, including the posting of a sign declaring “Service Animals Welcome” and conducting one training session on service animal issues for all employees within one month. The law firm did not admit wrongdoing.
The lawsuit, filed last year by the Southern District U.S. Attorney’s Office, said the client has an injured nervous system and uses a German shepherd to help carry things and get her up when she falls (NYLJ, Nov. 10, 2011). The complaint in United States v. Larkin, Axelrod, Ingrassia & Tetenbaum, 11-cv-8003, claimed the firm’s lawyers twice refused to meet with the client in their offices because of the dog. The firm said the refusal was contrary to its policy and was motivated by an unidentified employee’s dog phobia. John Ingrassia, one of the firm’s partners, also was named in the suit. A consent decree ending the suit was filed yesterday in the court of Southern District Judge Vincent Briccetti.
