Name: Iowa Supreme Court sides with Iowa City tenant allergic to neighbor's support animal
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Iowa Supreme Court sides with Iowa City tenant allergic to neighbor's support animal

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Iowa City Press-CitizenView CommentsAn Iowa Supreme Court ruling on Tuesday&nbsp;concluded&nbsp;a landlord will have to pay an Iowa City tenant damages of one month's rent after allowing another tenant to live with an emotional support dog despite the building's&nbsp;no-pets policy.The case was first dismissed in small claims court before a district court said the landlord shouldn't have allowed the second tenant to have the support animal. The district court also dismissed the case because the law was "not clear.""To be clear, our holding today is based on the specific facts of this case," Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice Susan Christensen wrote in the ruling. "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."In November 2015, Karen Cohen entered into a lease agreement with her landlord, 2800-1 LLC, set for July 2016 to July 2017, according to the ruling. Cohen, who has a severe allergy to pet dander, chose the apartment building in part due to the no-pets policy.About two months later, David Clark entered into a written lease agreement with&nbsp;2800-1 LLC to live in an apartment down the hall from Cohen for the same period.Their leases began in July 2016 and,&nbsp;in August, Clark provided a letter from his psychiatrist to&nbsp;2800-1 LLC. The letter described his "chronic mental illness causing 'impairment in his ability to function,' " according to the ruling.The psychiatrist cited research showing the therapeutic benefit of caring for animals and asked the landlord to allow Clark to have a pet.The building's leasing and property manager, Jeffrey Clark, who has no relation to the tenant, notified the building's tenants about the support animal request. He asked if anyone had an allergy&nbsp;and Cohen responded about her allergy.Jeffrey Clark then went to the Iowa Civil Rights Commission (ICRC) and requested it review the case. No&nbsp;complaint had been filed.He told the commission that the landlord had apartments in other buildings available for Clark. The commission said moving the tenant wasn't an appropriate option. The landlord should try to accommodate both tenants instead of denying the request for&nbsp;a support animal, it said.According to Tuesday's ruling, there was no finding by the commission that allowing the support animal in the building despite Cohen’s allergies would be a reasonable accommodation.The landlord allowed Clark's support animal request and made several adjustments to accommodate Cohen's allergies. He had the tenants use separate stairwells and bought an air purifier for Cohen's apartment to try to prevent her&nbsp;exposure to pet dander.Over the next year, Cohen experienced a stuffy nose, swollen sinuses, coughing and mucus build-up. She tried several allergy medications to try to alleviate her symptoms.In September 2017, she sued 2800-1 LLC and her neighbor in small claims court for breach of the lease’s no-pets policy. She also sued on the basis that she couldn't enjoy the quiet of her apartment because of the dog.The landlord responded that it had no other option but to grant the waiver of the no-pets policy for Clark under the Iowa Civil Rights Act.In July 2018, the small claims court dismissed the case, claiming the landlord had made reasonable accommodations.Cohen filed an appeal to the district court, which found that the landlord should have denied the request for a support dog&nbsp;because of Cohen's allergies.It also dismissed the case, because the law on emotional support animals was&nbsp;not clear, according to the ruling.Both Cohen and Clark filed applications for discretionary review, which the Iowa Supreme Court granted.Christensen, the court's chief justice, said because Cohen signed first, she had priority over Clark.And, because of Cohen's severe allergy reactions to the dog, the landlord owed her damages on her claims of breach of lease and the breach of the covenant of quiet enjoyment.Prairie Conlon,&nbsp;clinical director of CertaPet, which provides screening, consultation and letters for emotional support animals, called the ruling "first-of-its-kind.""It sounds like the ruling was very reasonable," she said.&nbsp;"We can’t ever say one issue is worse than the other, and the housing unit did everything it could to accommodate both."View Comments

Iowa City Press-CitizenView CommentsAn Iowa Supreme Court ruling on Tuesday&nbsp;concluded&nbsp;a landlord will have to pay an Iowa City tenant damages of one month's rent after allowing another tenant to live with an emotional support dog despite the building's&nbsp;no-pets policy.The case was first dismissed in small claims court before a district court said the landlord shouldn't have allowed the second tenant to have the support animal. The district court also dismissed the case because the law was "not clear.""To be clear, our holding today is based on the specific facts of this case,"...

Iowa Supreme Court sides with Iowa City tenant allergic to neighbor's support animal

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