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Article Courtesy of The TCPalm
By Eve Samples
Published June 11, 2010
Mitzy the cat has got to go.
That was the message embedded in a court summons
that 88-year-old Bea Garza and her husband, Ron, received at the doorstep
of their condo on Monday.
Never mind that Bea is diagnosed with dementia and
depression, and the cat provides emotional support.
Never mind that Mitzy isn’t a burden on the
managers at Vista Pines, the condo complex off East Ocean Boulevard where
the Garzas live.
The only thing that seems to matter to Vista Pines
Association is that Mitzy violates the “no cats” rule.
| So the condominium
association has spent the past year trying to get rid of
her.
Last August, after getting wind of
the fact that the Garzas had a cat in their modest condo,
the association warned the couple that they had 48 hours
to remove Mitzy. If they didn’t, they would face legal
action.
But the Garzas kept their beloved
cat, providing a psychiatrist’s note that said Bea
needed Mitzy to alleviate the symptoms of her illnesses.
The cat makes her less lonely, and helps her keep a grip
on reality.
“She loves her to death, the
cat,” said Ron, who is 81 and does occasional work as a
handyman. “That’s her life.”
That didn’t matter to the
association. It made good on its word |
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Bea
Garza spends time with Mitzy at her home in Vista Pines in Stuart.
With her doctor’s recommendation, Bea’s husband Ron adopted
Mitzy from the Humane Society to help with her dementia. Because
Vista Pines doesn’t allow pets, the Garzas are now in a legal
battle with the homeowners association to keep Mitzy.
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In
November, a lawyer from Fort Lauderdale-based Becker & Poliakoff filed a
petition for arbitration on behalf of the association. In March, the
arbitrator with the Florida Department of Business and Professional
Regulation issued a final order requiring the Garzas to remove the cat by
April 1. But the decision hinges on a procedural issue — not the Garzas’
rights under the law.
That didn’t matter to the association either. It
filed a lawsuit in Martin County Circuit Court to enforce the order. The
Garzas now have 20 days to respond, according to the summons issued Monday.
A lawyer that took on the Garzas’ case pro bono last
year said he intends to file a response by then.
“We needed a fair hearing, and we really didn’t
get one,” said attorney Richard Brown of Vero Beach. “It really was a
technical victory more than anything else.”
In the March 1 order, the arbitrator states Brown
failed to file a timely discrimination claim with a housing authority. There
was no discussion of legal rights — but Bea appears to have legitimate
claims under the law, according to experts.
The Fair Housing Act requires that people with
disabilities get “reasonable” accommodations for housing. For someone
who is blind, that means adjusting any rules to allow for a guide dog. And
for someone with dementia, that would mean allowing a cat if it is deemed by
a doctor to alleviate those symptoms, said Michael Allen, a civil rights
lawyer in Washington D.C. with expertise in the Fair Housing Act.
Even if the cat doesn’t provide a specific task,
like a guide dog, it is still covered. A letter from a doctor should be
enough proof, Allen said.
The exceptions are if the animal creates an undue
financial burden on an association or requires the association to
fundamentally alter its service.
“I don’t see how any one cat could come anywhere
close to that,” Allen told me Wednesday.
Yet the Vista Pines Association seems intent on
bullying the Garzas to get rid of Mitzy. It has deeper pockets. And,
considering Bea’s dementia, it’s easier for the association to wage a
fight.
“I think there are an awful lot of residents
(nationwide) getting pushed around,” Allen told me. “They don’t have
equal bargaining power, they don’t have equal access to lawyers.”
The Garzas worry that the association’s battle could
drain their resources. But more than anything, they think it’s unfair.
“I think they want to make an example of us, and
scare everybody else around,” Ron said.
Neither
Vista Pines managers nor the association’s lawyer returned my calls about
the Garzas. Maybe they’re getting a little scared now, too.
Kindness of the masses rallies
to help couple and their cat
Stuart couple in fight with homeowner’s association over
cat
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