NJ Division on Civil Rights Stops Eviction over Grieving Daughter’s Support Dog

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Paterson NJ, Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal and the Division on Civil Rights announced today that a North Jersey housing cooperative and its property management contractor will pay a former tenant $20,000 to resolve allegations they unlawfully tried to evict her and her daughter over an emotional support dog who aided the daughter following her father’s death.

The Brooks-Sloate Terrace Cooperative Association of Paterson and its property management contractor – Colonial Mutual Housing Corp. – must also develop and distribute a written anti-discrimination policy for the cooperative. Among other things, the policy must contain clear protocols for requesting an exception to the cooperative’s “no pets” policy for emotional support animals.

The respondents also must release all claims they may have against Spence for rent arrears, pet fines, legal fees, property damage, etc., and reinstate Spence to the cooperative’s active waiting list for individuals and families who have applied to become a shareholder/owner of a housing unit at the development.

The emotional support dog at issue was a gift to Spence’s daughter, and was described in a letter from her treating physician as therapeutic in addressing the girl’s conduct disorder, which the physician said had been exacerbated by the death of her father.

Despite Spence’s explanations and the letter from the daughter’s physician, the Brooks-Sloate Board of Directors cited Spence for violating the cooperative’s no-pets rule, ordered her to get rid of the dog and, when she failed to do so, initiated eviction proceedings against her in state Superior Court. Among other assertions, the Brooks-Sloate board dismissed Spence’s claims that the dog was therapeutic for her daughter as a “pretense,” and observed that the animal had “received no specialized training.”