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INTERNAL PROTOTYPE — NOT LEGAL ADVICE — DO NOT SEND

Douglas v. Kriegsfeld Corp., 884 A.2d 1109 (2005)

Citation
Douglas v. Kriegsfeld Corp., 884 A.2d 1109 (2005)
Parent Document
Douglas v. Kriegsfeld Corp., 884 A.2d 1109 (2005)
Jurisdiction
DC (municipal)
Effective Date
2005-10-13

Other Sections in This Document (533)

Full Text

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Under such circumstances, the landlord's default and refusal will permit a reasonable accommodation defense to go forward if the tenant's request — while perhaps lacking details that might be necessary to demonstrate feasibility if the landlord had pressed for particulars — is complete enough for a reasonable jury to find that the elements of the request, if implemented along the lines proposed, would provide an accommodation responsive to the tenant's handicap that would cure and continue to prevent her default. The landlord, after all, could have questioned feasibility, if indeed there were grounds for doing so, by engaging in the required dialogue. By declining to do so as the law requires, the landlord failed to demonstrate any missing element or other inherent defect in the tenant's proposal. The landlord thereby kept the level of specificity required to establish prima facie "reasonableness" at the minimum. In a case such as this, for example, the details about tenant cooperation, the strength of the government's commitment, and the frequency of cleaning would likely be spelled out with some precision when the landlord participates and insists on particulars before deciding whether, from its viewpoint, the accommodation would be reasonable. But when the tenant offers a coherent, ostensibly feasible proposal which the landlord rejects out of hand without discussion in good faith, the landlord has little, if any, standing to complain that the tenant has not been particular enough to proceed with a reasonable accommodation defense before the jury. Here, the tenant has proffered that the D.C. government will clean the apartment and keep it clean. Prima facie that will solve the problem, absent input from the landlord that the proposal will not work, for example, without pinning down a specific, frequent cleaning schedule.