[nagdu] Debate rages over whether dog is service animal or pet

Sun Aug 29 14:51:28 UTC 2010

Little dog stuck in big fight
Debate rages over whether dog is a service animal or a pet
By JOSHUA STEWART, Staff Writer
By JOSHUA STEWART, Staff Writer
Published 08/29/10 
http://www.hometownannapolis.com/news/top/2010/08/29-39/Little-do
g-stuck-in-big-fight.htm

People don't see Kay Tunney's disability. It's nearly invisible.
It's Mulligan Sue, the little white dog she takes everywhere,
that makes her noticeable.

 By Joshua Stewart - The Capital Mulligan Sue sits next to her
owner, Kay Tunney, on Wednesday as members of the city's Human
Relations Commission hear her case about whether the dog can live
with Tunney in a condominium complex as an emotional support
animal. AP VIDEO more>> 

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The dog is at the center of a dispute about what exceptions an
Annapolis condominium complex with a no-pets rule must allow for
those who use "emotional support animals" to help them overcome
pain and psychological anguish.

Tunney said her dog is a type of service animal, and
anti-discrimination laws give her the right to keep it wherever
she lives.

But the lawyer representing the board of Severn House, the condo
complex where Tunney once planned to live, argues that Tunney
hasn't shown that her dog is anything more than a pet, and the
condo association can't justify making an exception to the rules.

Mulligan Sue is a 12-year-old schnauzer-West Highland terrier
mix. She weighs around 20 pounds and stands about 14 inches tall
at the shoulder. Tunney got her about 10 years ago, and they've
been nearly inseparable ever since, she said. The dog doesn't
have any special training beyond housebreaking, sociability and
other abilities most dogs have, she added.

At a hearing before the city Human Relations Commission on
Wednesday night, Mulligan Sue passed the time either curled up on
Tunney's lap or lying on the floor under a table in Council
Chambers in City Hall, her head on her paws, tethered to her
owner by a purple leash. She was silent except for when she fell
asleep and started to snore quietly.

"She's a sweet thing that I've known for quite awhile," said
Gerard Uehlinger, Tunney's attorney.

The question at hand is whether Tunney can keep Mulligan Sue, or
"Mullie" as she's called, in a condo she planned to rent at
Severn House, a 211-unit condominium complex on Back Creek that
has a no-pets policy written into its covenants.

It's an unusual case and may be the first of its kind in
Annapolis, people who participated in the hearing said. Earlier
this year, Tunney and her then-boyfriend tried to rent a condo
there, and the unit's owner said she had no problem with Mulligan
Sue joining them. So Tunney placed a security deposit and asked
Severn House's board of directors for an exception to the no-pets
rule through her future landlord, Connie Connor.

Tunney argued that the dog is an emotional support animal, a type
of service animal that helps her deal with the pain of arthritis,
chronic depression and a long list of other physical ailments.
She needs the assistance like a blind person needs a seeing-eye
dog, Tunney said, and as such, civil rights laws allow her to
keep the dog there.

"Just having her next to me when I have tremendous pain is
comforting and calming," she said at the hearing. "I've just
jokingly said to people, 'She's my rock. My adorable, portable,
20-pound rock,' as ridiculous as it is to people who aren't pet
lovers."

But for Severn House board members and the company that manages
the complex, the issue is whether Tunney submitted documents that
prove Mulligan Sue merits an exception to the rules. The board
can only issue an exception to the no-pets policy if the animal
ameliorates a disability, said Sara Arthur, the attorney
representing Severn House and the management company, Victory
Management.

Prove it
Service animals are welcome at Severn House and it's possible
that Mulligan Sue may have been able to live there alongside her
owner, Arthur said. However, the documents Tunney provided to the
board didn't show a disability or prove that Mulligan Sue, does,
in fact, improve Tunney's condition. As such, the board couldn't
determine if the dog was a reasonable and necessary accommodation
or just a pet, Arthur said.

"Based on the documents provided to the board, there was no
disclosure to the disability. There was no disclosure to how the
dog accommodated that disability. There is a waiver to the policy
if the pet is a reasonable and necessary accommodation to the
disability; the mere fact that it's a pet is not sufficient," she
said.

The board gave Tunney the chance to submit additional paperwork
that supports her campaign for an exception, but Tunney didn't do
so, Arthur said.

As a result, this winter the board decided not to allow the dog
to stay there and Tunney decided not to move in without Mulligan
Sue.

In response, Tunney filed a complaint with the city's Human
Relations Commission, arguing that she was discriminated against
on the basis of her disability. She charged that the Severn House
board and Victory Management violated the Americans with
Disabilities and the Fair Housing acts. She wants the board and
management company fined and sanctioned, and the matter referred
to the Department of Justice and other federal authorities.

"We contend that we did not discriminate. We contend that we did
not have sufficient information about the disability or the
correlation between the dog and disability for the exception to
the rule banning pets. She was given the opportunity to provide
additional information but chose not to do it," Arthur said.

Connor, Tunney's landlord, said the board asked her for more
details about Tunney's disability, but she thought the board's
request was just a way to "stall" before denying the exception
anyway. So, she "indicated to Kay that we had failed. I took it
as the final word" and she didn't provide any more information,
Connor said.

In an interview, Tunney said the board never asked for additional
information about her disability and that Connor is easily
confused.

Source of stress
The fallout from the case has been stressful for both her and
Mulligan Sue, and the possibility of filing a lawsuit over the
issue caused the boyfriend she planned to live with to break up
with her, Tunney said.

"This has been a physically and emotionally devastating
experience for me. And it's one that people should not have to go
through. It has affected me in many ways - relationships,
financially, emotionally. I suffer severe depression and I just
feel that nobody should have to go through that. People need to
have more awareness that emotional support animals are existent.
If anyone wanted to know about my disability they should have
addressed that.

"The federal government has declared me disabled, the state
government, my physicians. The only person who has the right to
judge me is God," she said.

The outcome of the dispute will be determined by the policies
laid out by the Fair Housing and American with Disabilities acts,
two federal laws that determine when exceptions must be made to
allow people with disabilities to keep emotional support animals.

If the commission rules against Severn House or Victory
Management, the matter could be referred to the State's
Attorney's Office. But after hearing arguments and witness
testimony for five hours, the commission decided to wait on
making a ruling until it can meet again at a yet-to-be-determined
date and time.

Meanwhile, Tunney and a Mulligan Sue are living with a friend in
Eastport.