United States v. The Dorchester Owners Association (E.D. Pa.)
On January 25, 2023, the court entered a final judgment on a June 10, 2022 jury verdict in favor of the United States in United States v. Dorchester Owners Association ("DOA") (E.D. Pa.). The court ordered defendant to pay the aggrieved persons, a married couple, $37,431 in compensatory damages, entered an injunction requiring the defendant to promptly respond to requests for accommodations for assistance animals, maintain records, and follow the policies it adopted after the jury verdict for the next three years, and assessed a civil penalty of $1. The court also issued a memorandum opinion explaining its rulings.
The United States alleged in this case that the DOA discriminated on the basis of disability by failing to grant a reasonable accommodation to its no-pets policy to a HUD complainant, and alleged that DOA engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination and/or a denial of rights against a group of persons by adopting a discriminatory policy and refusing to grant reasonable accommodations to persons with disabilities who need assistance animals. The jury found that the Defendant had engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination against persons with disabilities and had denied rights protected by the Fair Housing Act to a group of such persons. The jury also found that the Defendant had violated the Fair Housing Act rights of three persons – a married couple who owned a unit and another woman who was also a unit owner - whose requests for accommodations for assistance animals were denied or unreasonably delayed. The jury also found that the United States had not proven that Defendant unlawfully denied the accommodation requested by a unit owner who had filed a HUD complaint and intervened as a plaintiff. The United States filed its complaint in this case on March 12, 2020. The case was referred to the Division after the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) received two complaints from unit owners, completed an investigation on the first complaint, and issued a charge of discrimination.
Press Release (3/12/20)
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