Overlawyered » service animals

“Ex-Worker Sues City Over Service Dog For Paprika Allergy”

Walter Olson — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 04:29:02 +0000

“A former city worker is suing Indianapolis after she claims the city failed to accommodate the service dog she needs due to her severe allergy to paprika.” The city had already removed certain foods from its vending machines but declined to accept a service dog as reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) because a co-worker was allergic to dogs. [WRTV]

Tags: allergies, disabled rights, Indiana, service animals

“Ex-Worker Sues City Over Service Dog For Paprika Allergy” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Feds sue housing co-op for not allowing “comfort dog”

Walter Olson — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 18:29:15 +0000

In 2005 Jack and Sandra Biegel purchased a unit in Long Island’s Woodbury Gardens, which had a no-pet policy. The next year they acquired a miniature schnauzer to assist with Sandra’s multiple ailments, which included depression and strained breathing. She died the next year. Now the federal government is taking Jack’s side against the co-op in its effort to enforce its rules. [NY Daily News]

Tags: fair housing, Long Island, service animals

Feds sue housing co-op for not allowing “comfort dog” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Judge: blind plaintiff can sue landlord, guide-dog provider over fall

Walter Olson — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 02:02:40 +0000

A judge has ruled that an elderly Manhattan woman can sue her landlord and a guide-dog provider over a fall she suffered on a step at her building. Gloria Clark argues that her earlier guide dogs had always guided her around a dangerous step over 26 years of living in the building but that while she was auditioning a new guide dog the dog’s trainer did not properly take care against the hazard. [New York Daily News]

Tags: service animals, slip and fall

Judge: blind plaintiff can sue landlord, guide-dog provider over fall is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Dogs in the dorms

Walter Olson — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 05:31:31 +0000

The Justice Department has sued the University of Nebraska-Kearney and its regents and employees for allegedly “denying reasonable accommodation requests by students with psychological or emotional disabilities seeking to live with emotional assistance animals in university housing.” [Disability Law]

More/update: Inside Higher Ed.

Tags: colleges and universities, fair housing, Nebraska, service animals

Dogs in the dorms is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“ADA Suit May Overturn Pit-Bull Bans”

Walter Olson — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 05:18:36 +0000

“City officials in Denver and in the neighboring suburb of Aurora are being sued over their enforcement of dog breed bans. The suit claims the bans violate the Americans with Disabilities Act.” [Arin Greenwood, ABA Journal]

Tags: animals, disabled rights, service animals

“ADA Suit May Overturn Pit-Bull Bans” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

May 2 roundup

Walter Olson — Mon, 02 May 2011 13:39:04 +0000

In suit over weird, elaborate online hoax, court allows fraudulent-misrepresentation claim despite lack of motive of tangible gain [Chi Trib]
Service animal rodeo: “A trained rat probably would have had a good case in California” [AP/Statesman-Journal] Broward County, Fla. backs lonely widow’s right to keep “prescription Chihuahua” against rules of condo board [AOL, Sun-Sentinel] Oklahoma: “Depressed Woman Fights to Keep Therapy Kangaroo” [Newser] Earlier on recent change in federal rules;

Should lawmakers screen bills for constitutionality? Ms. Lithwick has trouble sticking to a position [AEternitatis]
Human-relations complaint leads to arrest of U.K. man for singing “Kung Fu Fighting” [MSNBC]
Barney Frank: Yes, let’s talk about med-mal reform [The Hill] Ringing the bell: Roundups of more big med-mal verdicts [White Coat, more]
“Expert Witnesses Stripped Of Immunity From Negligence Suits In The UK” [Erik Magraken]
“Sustainability”: an empty idea? Or perhaps actively wrongheaded? [David Friedman via David Henderson]

Tags: Barney Frank, Dahlia Lithwick, expert witnesses, hate speech, medical malpractice, music and musicians, service animals, United Kingdom

May 2 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

The silence of the goats

Walter Olson — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 05:03:45 +0000

I’ve got a new post up at Cato at Liberty on the politics of not-really-deregulation under the ADA, as new federal rules take effect on service animals. Earlier here, etc.

Tags: service animals

The silence of the goats is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

ADA: Feds withdraw “service animal” backing for ferrets, snakes

Walter Olson — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 15:49:38 +0000

I’ve got an op-ed in today’s New York Post. It begins:

For the service goat, assistance monkey and emotional-support iguana, it could be the end of an era. Under new federal rules taking effect Tuesday, the Americans with Disabilities Act will no longer compel shops, restaurants and other businesses to accommodate a menagerie of supposed service animals brought in by the public. Only dogs and some miniature horses will qualify. Moreover, dogs will qualify as service animals only if they’ve been individually trained to assist with a disabled human’s needs.

“The provision of emotional support, well-being, comfort or companionship do not constitute work or tasks for the purposes of this new definition.” And they’ll need to be on-leash unless their work requires otherwise.

Finally. You’d think the Obama administration had, in a fit of common sense, for once chosen to heed a public outcry about zany regulations-gone-mad.

But as usual, the politics are more complicated than that. …

Read the whole thing here. Relatedly, Kevin at Lowering the Bar has some free advice for persons with service monkeys, namely that their allegations of service-animal status are more likely to win favor if they don’t dress up four of the little guys in pirate costumes on Bourbon St. in New Orleans’ French Quarter. And from Olympia, Wash.’s KPTV: “Man with service snake lobbies against bill.”

Tags: service animals, WO writings

ADA: Feds withdraw “service animal” backing for ferrets, snakes is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

January 18 roundup

Walter Olson — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 12:10:30 +0000

What, no more monkeys or snakes? Starting March 15 new federal regulation will restrict definition of “service animals” to dogs alone [Central Kitsap Reporter, earlier, more]
“Appeals court: SD prosecutor’s conduct denied man a fair trial” [San Diego Union-Tribune]
A tale of local regulation: “A septic system at the crossroads” [Roland Toy, American Thinker]
Firm sues Fark, Reddit, Yahoo, etc. etc. over 2002 patent on “structured news release generation and distribution,” draws rude reply from defendant TechCrunch;
UK schools minister: “no touching pupils” policy keeps music teachers from doing their job [Telegraph]
Legal ethicist Stephen Gillers hired at $950/hour to approve ethics of Ken Feinberg’s BP compensation fund work [two views: Andrew Perlman and Monroe Freedman; earlier, Byron Stier]. Per Ted at PoL, trial lawyers criticizing the arrangement “complain that BP is using the same tactic plaintiffs’ lawyers regularly use to prove their own ethics.”
Is WordPress’s quirky “Hello Dolly” plugin a copyright infringement? [TechDirt]
Congrats, you’re eligible for a job with the D.C. public school system [ten years ago on Overlawyered; more on criminal records and hiring, subject of a current EEOC crusade]

Tags: copyright, ethics, patent quality, prosecution, San Diego, schools, service animals, United Kingdom, WordPress

January 18 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“Teen Claims School Violated ADA by Barring Basketball with Service Dog”

Walter Olson — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 15:34:13 +0000

“A Chicago area teen claims in a lawsuit that her high school violated the Americans with Disabilities Act when it barred her from playing basketball with the help of her service dog.” The president of Special Olympics Illinois, which sponsors the team that turned down Jenny Youngwith’s request, “said the group has to make decisions based on the safety of all the athletes.” [ABA Journal]

Tags: service animals, sports

“Teen Claims School Violated ADA by Barring Basketball with Service Dog” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system