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
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/1472683/douglas-v-kriegsfeld-corp/ ↗

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Contrary to our reading of the record, however, Judge Glickman states that "[p]rior to trial, when a productive dialogue was still possible, the landlord's counsel solicited the `details' of a suitable accommodation from Ms. Douglas's counsel, and her counsel could not provide them." In our view, that statement summarizes the situation lopsidedly. On this record, a jury could reasonably find that the landlord's counsel, rather than soliciting details, essentially stonewalled the tenant's counsel by waiting over three months to discuss the matter and then by stating, two weeks before trial, "that his proposal simply lacked any specifics for us to really make an evaluation on." Landlord's counsel then rejected the proffered D.C. government cleanup on the ground that tenant's counsel "had no authority to speak for the D.C. government" (even though counsel's pretrial testimony represented that his government witnesses, Sutton and Byrd, could "satisfy" the landlord in this regard). The landlord's counsel thereafter declined to discuss the matter further. This pretrial behavior by counsel for the landlord, coupled with counsel's statements in the trial court, provides the basis for a reasonable jury finding that the landlord did not make a good faith effort to enter the required dialogue with tenant's counsel as to reasonable accommodation. We are satisfied, therefore, that under these circumstances the trial court would have a basis for sending the tenant's defense to the jury under the authority of Jankowski Lee & Assocs. (a case Judge Glickman cites) and its progeny.[80]

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