End
of tale: Condo lets 40-pound dog lie 81-year-old owner; association settle suit
over weight limit By MICHELE DERUS <mderus@journalsentinel.com>
His
weight breaks condo complex rules, but "Bear" the border collie can
stay anyway.
With
the resolution of its 2006 lawsuit, Willow Brook Condominium Association keeps
its 30-pound dog weight rule, but condo resident GeorgAnn Heckendorf keeps her
40-something-pound dog.
"It
boils down to, if something happens to me, the dog cannot be here," said
Heckendorf, an ailing 81-year-old widow. "It's not like they're taking a
great big chance that we're here forever. Bear is 12 and I'll be 82 in March.
But he's so dear to me."
Bear
was promoted, via a late January legal settlement, from pet to companion dog.
That exempts him from Willow Brook's pet weight limits.
"We
felt that Bear qualified as an emotional support animal, which she's allowed to
keep under the U.S. Fair Housing Act," explained attorney Terence P. Cahill,
who represents Heckendorf. "We provided documentation to prove a
sufficient disability."
Willow
Brook's manager referred inquiries to Morton M. Grodsky, the association's
attorney, who said only that the matter has been resolved. The parties' compromise,
according to Cahill:
-
Willow Brook ends its lawsuit against Heckendorf. She in turn drops her
discrimination complaint, lodged with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development against Willow Brook.
-
Willow Brook lets Bear stay as long as Heckendorf lives there. If Heckendorf
outlives the dog, she agrees that any successor will weigh less than 30 pounds.
"Both
parties are looking at this realistically," Cahill said. "Her goal
was to keep the dog, and I think the condo association, after being supplied
with additional evidence and cases under HUD, realized that to not allow her to
keep it (would) expose them to liability."
The
condo complex, which sued Heckendorf last August in Waukesha County Circuit
Court, had a pet pound limit when Heckendorf and Bear arrived in spring 2005.
She denied knowing that.
"The
brochure said, 'Pets welcome,' " she said.
Court
documents trace the complex's efforts to get Heckendorf to dump the dog,
starting with polite directives in the summer of 2005. Heckendorf said Bear
gave them no cause; "he's very well behaved, quiet, and wags his tail at
people all the time."
Meanwhile,
"Too
bad the law wasn't in effect when she bought her place," sympathized Roger
Raasch, spokesman for the Wisconsin Condominium Association in
At
the Community Associations Institute in
"In
most cases, people find association life joyful and rewarding,"
spokesman
Frank Rathbun said. "But there are occasional problems. We refer to them
as the three P's - parking, pools and pets. Among the pet issues, the biggest
one is probably droppings."
Pet
droppings are a justifiable arena for governance, but size shouldn't matter,
said Debra H. Lewin, author of the institute publication Pet Policies. Her book
advises condo boards to use behavior-based rules.
"If
the dog doesn't bother other people, doesn't bark and its owner picks up after
it and keeps it on the leash, that should be considered compliance,"
Lewin
said. "When you get into weight and height regulations, you get
enforcement issues. What happens, for instance, when the dog puts on a few
pounds?"
Such
may be the case with Bear.
"Bear
is 41 pounds. He never changes his weight much," Heckendorf said. But her
attorney said, "The dog weighed in at 46."
---
--
Merritt
Clifton
Editor, ANIMAL PEOPLE
Telephone: 360-579-2505
Fax: 360-579-2575
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