Posted on 07/07/2016 7:35:05 PM PDT by chrisinoc
Last year, two Irvine Company apartment-complex tenants filed lawsuits against the OC-based real estate development enterprise and its apartment affiliate for discriminating against them for needing emotional-support animals. In December of 2015 the Irvine Co. settled with the tenants for $175,000 each. You’d think they would have learned their lesson after forking out over $350,000 plus the plaintiffs' legal fees. But Michael O’Loughlin’s recent experience at Woodbridge Villas suggests otherwise.
When he was 27, O’Loughlin fell and broke his neck in a hiking accident in Hawaii. A quadriplegic, he now relies heavily on caretakers and nurses to help with everyday tasks. He also depends on his emotional-support dog named Versace, a three-year-old German Shepherd. “It sounds cheesy,” O’Loughlin says, “but the dog’s taught me a lot about love. He’s given me so much happiness and has helped me in so many ways...One time my I.V bag fell and he was able to pick it up for me.”
(Excerpt) Read more at ocweekly.com ...
The dog is with the German Shepherd Rescue of Orange County now. No photo is available yet.
http://www.gsroc.org/dogs/versace/
there will be plenty of attorneys HAPPY to take on a major lawsuit for this person
you’d think the company would have a lot more smarts than to try something like this, in this modern age especially and in California no less!
this will get fixed
As a former land lord I sympathize with the land lord. As a dog lover I sympathize with the tenant. The issue is did the tenant move in AFTER his accident with the dog? OR did he get the dog after. My gut reaction is to allow land lords to make decisions they feel is best for their own private property. But I’m not an idiot and realize the value of being a good land lord to someone that would be a great tenant who needs a dog for support and service.
Because this gentleman is a quadriplegic, I give him great deference on this issue, but the concept of an emotional support dog is sure to be abused massively. There is so much fraud when it comes to service animals in apartments, I can see where a line needs to be drawn. I do think a severe situation such as his could remain on the right side of the line, but if the emotional support dog is allowed for one it will also likely open up the flood gates so everyone can identify their ‘ailment’ that requires their own emotional support.
My understanding is he has lived in the apartment for 34 years. That would make him a tenant since the apartment opened (I live about a mile from his apartment building). He had the dog for two years but has had other dogs in the past.
I have dealt with the Irvine Company in the past and they are a bunch of jerks. This does not help their image.
Thanks to the freeper!!
Emotional support dog?? So the dog isn’t essential?
The policy for Emotional Support Animals is different under the Fair Housing Act than under the ADA. There are some exceptions but generally the landlord is required to make reasonable accommodations. Documentation is required to verify the person’s need for the animal.
The management company wouldn’t happen to be IPG (Investment Properties Group) would it?
From the article it appears the eviction notice was because of the dog’s behavior. The act does state, “A disabled person who does not properly manage his/her unruly, destructive, aggressive, or disturbance causing animal can be evicted.” Keep in mind though those terms are very likely defined in local ordinance as well as California statute. Was such a label ever officially determined to apply to the dog? If so there are avenues of appeal.
“The management company wouldn’t happen to be IPG (Investment Properties Group) would it?”
Don’t know, sorry. This is the reason I have been a homeowner since 1979. I don’t like property management companies telling me what to do.
Yes the man does need a companion dog but he needs one trained for certain things such as bark on command. Also being confined to a wheelchair he would likely need one he could have in his lap that could safely jump up into his lap in the wheelchair or jump on the bed and lay beside him. A Toy Rat Terrier would do it. They are very smart dogs and weigh roughly 8-10 pounds and can easily jump into his lap or the bed. They are also great watch dogs and they learn very fast.
The short version is my late wife was an incomplete quad and had some arm and hand movement. I bought her a Toy Ratty which looks like a Chihuahua but a much better disposition. She trained the dog herself. The dog would jump into her lap when she was sitting up and lay with her when she was in bed. I was my wifes sole caregiver and I am disabled and hearing impaired when I am asleep and can't use my hearing aids. The dog woke me up many times when she told her to bark for me or she was choking etc.
My wife passed March 2015 and the dog is still with me and is now both my companion and service dog. She alerts me when my cell phone rings, when someone is coming up the driveway, or she hears a strange noise.
The man needs a small dog he can interact better with and a landlord might be a lot more open to a small dog especially if it has some training. I understand why he would want a German Shepherd it would be security issues. But the Ratty will alert him in plenty of time to summon help.
It is possible the dog is unruly, destructive, aggressive or causing a disturbance.
Dogs can get that way living in an apartment.
See my post 12. The realities of quadriplegia are pretty cut and try. It can mean long stretches of isolation meaning having to stay home in bed for several months waiting on a sore to heal. I posted something I think is really a workable solution for him and the landlord that would meet the landlords liability concerns and his companionship needs.
Yes it is. Shepherds are working dogs they need a lot of exercise not just physical but mental as well. My point was that there are legal definitions for the complaints in the landlord’s letter and it is possible that the dog’s behavior did not meet them.
Yes - that was my point as well. German Shepards are big dogs with a lot of energy. Who is exercising the dog? Is the dog getting out to run? How often? It’s not natural for the poor dog to be shut up in a small apartment.
The situation appears to be over for now, except for the monetary settlement.
I have not met Verasce yet (will this Saturday) but my fellow GSROC volunteer and Freeper tells me he is people, dog, and cat friendly but not trained. The disabled person was not in a position to train him so that’s why he decided to surrender him.
If someone calls me and I'm asleep the dog gets on my chest grabs the sheets and shakes them growling then I hear the phone start ringing. The dog though heard the vibration mode begin first and started alerting me.
A German Shepherd is too big for mainly inside a house but a Toy Ratty is content to stay inside except for the 4-5 times a day trips out to do their business. I've left my dog nearly 10 hours before no damage done when I got home.
I'm physically able to do for myself so if the dog wakes me up or barks that someone is outside I already have weapon in hand before that person can get out of their vehicle.
I understand companion dog rules can be abused but with a small dog I think a landlord would have a very difficult time winning any litigation in the case of a quadriplegic.
My ex-SIL from my first marriage ended up confined to a wheelchair. She had a small trained monkey LOL.
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