“This outcome should prompt all housing providers to consider carefully whether their policies and procedures comply with federal law,” Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said.
NEW YORK — A woman who faced eviction from her Manhattan apartment due to her three emotional support parrots will receive $165,000 in damages and $585,000 for her apartment under a consent decree announced by federal prosecutors.
The consent decree, revealed on Monday, settles a dispute between Meril Lesser and the board of the Rutherford, a 175-unit cooperative apartment building where Lesser lived with her parrots Layla, Ginger, and Curtis.
Lesser purchased her apartment at the Rutherford in Manhattan’s Gramercy Park neighborhood in 1999 and moved in with her birds. Complaints from neighbor Charlotte Kullen began in 2015. “Oh God, I wake up still with nightmares of them screaming in my head,” Kullen told the Daily News.
Despite 15 inspections by the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, no excessive noise was found. “No birds, no screeching — no noise,” an inspector noted on Feb. 7, 2016.
Lesser provided letters from her psychiatrist indicating that the birds were crucial for her mental health, but the Rutherford board initiated eviction proceedings in May 2016.
After moving out and subletting her apartment, Lesser filed a federal fair housing complaint with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in 2018. HUD found probable cause that the Rutherford had violated Lesser’s fair housing rights.
Instead of settling, Rutherford opted to go to federal court, prompting the Department of Justice to file a lawsuit, Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damian Williams stated. Williams noted that the consent decree, approved by a federal judge on Aug. 16, represents the largest recovery the federal government has ever secured for a person with disabilities denied their right to have an assistance animal.
“This outcome should urge all housing providers to review their policies and procedures to ensure they comply with federal law,” Williams added.
Peter Livingston, an attorney for the Rutherford co-op board, expressed satisfaction with resolving the case.
In addition to paying Lesser $165,000 and buying her shares in the co-op for $585,000, the Rutherford must implement a reasonable accommodation policy for assistance animals and allow the federal government to monitor compliance. The board must also dismiss the eviction proceeding against Lesser in housing court.
Lesser did not respond to a text sent to a phone number listed for her.