The Commonwealth Court held in Kennedy House v. Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations, No. 1263 C.D. (2016), that a residential cooperative building was not required to provide an accommodation in the form of a waiver of its no-dog policy when an applicant could not demonstrate a nexus between her disability and the assistance provided by her dog. The 2-1 decision, filed on July 11, 2016, reversed the Court of Common Pleas affirmance of a Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations adjudication that concluded that Kennedy House violated Section 9-1108(1) of the Philadelphia Fair Practice Ordinance when it denied an accommodation request. The ordinance, inter alia, makes it unlawful for a covered entity to deny a housing accommodation to people based on a disability. Section 9-1102 (1) (€) defines unlawful acts as those practices that are unlawful under nondiscrimination laws of the United States or the commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
The dispute began when Jan Rubin applied to join the Kennedy House residential cooperative and requested a waiver of its no-dog policy so she may live with her 11-year-old dog, Mira, who Rubin described as a service dog. Kennedy House asked for a letter attesting to a need for the accommodation. The letter she provided from her physician stated that she suffers from multiple medical issues that affects her mobility, benefits from the service the dog provides and that the absence of the dog would impair her ability to function. Her physician then certified in writing, at Kennedy House’s request, that she was disabled as defined by federal law and the accommodation was consistent with needs associated with her disability. She was then required to attend a Kennedy House Membership Committee Hearing where she informed the committee that Mira assists her in ordering her day, and in remembering when to take medications, eat meals and get up and out of bed. Her request was denied on the basis that the requested accommodation did not comply with both their own rules and federal law.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.
For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]
