Sporn v. Ocean Colony Condominium Ass'n

• Decision Date: 29 October 2001
• Docket Number: No. 00-1179 (JEI).,00-1179 (JEI).
• Citation: 173 F.Supp.2d 244
• Parties: Leonard SPORN, et al., Plaintiffs, v. OCEAN COLONY CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of New Jersey

173 F.Supp.2d 244

Leonard SPORN, et al., Plaintiffs, v. OCEAN COLONY CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION, et al., Defendants.

No. 00-1179 (JEI).

United States District Court, D. New Jersey.

October 29, 2001.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Taylor, Boguski & Greenberg, by Robert Aaron Greenberg, Larchmont Law & Professional Center, Mount Laurel, NJ, for Plaintiffs.

Stark & Stark by David J. Byrne, Princeton, NJ, for Defendants.

OPINION

IRENAS, District Judge.

Presently before the Court is the Motion for Summary Judgment of Defendants Ocean Colony Condominium Association, Carol Ramchandani, Charles Haines, Betsy Beaver, Fred Shoyer and Frank Pisaturo. For the reasons set forth below, Defendants' motion is granted.

I.

Plaintiffs Leonard Sporn ("Mr.Sporn"), Dolores Sporn ("Mrs.Sporn"), Amelia Thomas ("A.Thomas") and Rosemarie Thomas ("R.Thomas") were unit owners at the Ocean Colony Condominium in Ocean City, New Jersey. The dispute out of which this action arose began in January 1998 when Defendant Ocean Colony Condominium Association ("the Association"), through its Board of Trustees, a number of whom are named as defendants in this case, issued a regulation in which an "Adult Lounge", inaccessible to children, was created at Ocean Colony. (Compl.¶ 15). In response to this regulation, Plaintiffs filed, in January 1999, a petition with the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development ("HUD") seeking a ruling on whether the exclusion of children from the adult lounge violated the provisions of the Fair Housing Act ("FHA"), 42 U.S.C. § 3601, et seq. According to Plaintiffs, Defendants allegedly responded to this complaint by engaging in "a campaign to discredit the plaintiffs with other unit owners" and "shunning" and "ostracizing" Plaintiffs. (Compl. at ¶ 17).

In March 2000, Plaintiffs filed the instant action against the Association and several individual members of the Board of Trustees, alleging that the creation of the adult lounge violated the FHA and that Defendants' "retaliatory" actions constituted unlawful interference with the exercise and enjoyment of Plaintiffs' FHA rights. (Compl.¶¶ 28, 31).

In addition, Plaintiffs assert a number of claims related to the Defendants' treatment of Leonard Sporn. Mr. Sporn suffers from severe spinal stenosis and is confined to a wheelchair. Plaintiffs assert that Defendants failed, in a number of ways, to comply with their obligations under the FHA and New Jersey law to "reasonably accommodate" Mr. Sporn's handicap. Specifically, Plaintiffs claim that Defendants refused to honor Mr. Sporn's request that he be provided with a handicapped parking space adjacent to a wheelchair-accessible entrance to the Condominium, and failed, in connection with renovations to the Condominium made in 1999, to provide handicapped access to the building and to the common area restrooms. (Compl.¶¶ 22-26).

Plaintiffs' final claim is that the actions of the Defendants constitute intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress.

This Court has jurisdiction over the matter pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1331, 1367.

II.

"[S]ummary judgment is proper `if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.'" Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986) (quoting Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c)).

III.

A.

The Fair Housing Act, 42 U.S.C. § 3601, et seq., passed as Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968 and amended by the Fair Housing Amendments Act (FHAA) of 1988 to protect handicapped persons, provides that it is unlawful "to discriminate against any person in the terms, conditions, or privileges of sale or rental of a dwelling, or in the provision of services in connection with such a dwelling, because of the handicap of that person...." 42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)(2). The relevant provisions of the FHA's definition of "discrimination" make unlawful:

(B) A refusal to make reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices, or services, when such accommodations may be necessary to afford such person equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling; [and]

(C) in connection with the design and construction of covered multifamily dwellings for first occupancy after the date that is 30 months after September 13, 1988, a failure to design and construct those dwellings in such a manner that the public use and common use portions of such dwellings are readily accessible to and usable by handicapped persons [and] all the doors designed to allow passage into and within all premises within such dwellings are sufficiently wide to allow passage by handicapped persons in wheelchairs.

42 U.S.C. §§ 3604(f)(3)(B), (C). Although Plaintiffs fail to cite to any specific provisions FHA in their complaint and cite to inapplicable provisions of the Act in the single paragraph discussing the issue in their response to the instant motion, it appears from their references to the denial of a "lawful accommodation" and their use of language identical to that in § 3604(f)(3)(C) that their claims are properly regarded as brought under the sections cited above.

The evidence offered by Plaintiffs relating to the inadequacy of Defendants' renovations under 3604(f)(3)(C) is wholly insufficient to survive a motion for summary judgment. Even assuming that the subsection's requirements relating to the design and construction of "covered multifamily dwellings for first occupancy" apply to renovations such as those alleged here (a proposition for which Plaintiffs cite no legal authority), Plaintiffs have not offered a single shred of evidence relating to the nature of renovations undertaken, the condition of the facilities at issue prior to the renovations or the alleged inadequacies of the Condominium after the renovations. As the Supreme Court has noted, "a party opposing a properly supported motion for summary judgment may not rest upon the mere allegations or denials of his pleading, but ... must set forth specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial." Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986) (citation omitted). Here, Plaintiffs have failed entirely to meet this requirement.¹

Plaintiffs claim of denial of reasonable accommodations under § 3604(f)(3)(B) is similarly without merit. While it is true that the FHA's reasonable accommodation requirement "can and often will" involve the imposition of some costs upon a landlord, Shapiro v. Cadman Towers, Inc., 51 F.3d 328, 334-335 (2d Cir.1995); see also, Assisted Living Associates of Moorestown v. Moorestown Township, 996 F.Supp. 409, 434-435 (D.N.J.1998), accommodation is required only where such measures "may be necessary to afford such a [handicapped] person equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling" and need only be "reasonable." 42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)(3)(B); see also, Gavin v. Spring Ridge Conservancy, Inc., 934 F.Supp. 685, 687 (D.Md. 1995) (emphasizing that FHA does not require accommodation wherever convenient or desired, but only where necessary). Given the dearth of evidence offered by Plaintiffs relating to necessity of Leonard Sporn's requested accommodations and the rather extensive evidence offered by the Defendants relating to the reasonableness of their efforts to accommodate Mr. Sporn, Plaintiffs claim cannot survive the instant motion.

As mentioned, Plaintiffs have offered no evidence whatsoever regarding the 1999 renovations to the Condominium or Plaintiff's claims relating thereto. Therefore, those claims cannot stand, regardless of the theory offered to support them. Accordingly, the only remaining issue in this area relates to Mr. Sporn's claim of entitlement to a handicapped parking space.

It has been recognized on numerous occasions that the FHA may, in certain cases, entitle a handicapped tenant to a reserved parking space adjacent to the tenant's dwelling. See, e.g., Jankowski Lee & Associates v. Cisneros, 91 F.3d 891, 895-896 (7th Cir.1996); Shapiro, 51 F.3d at 335; Hubbard v. Samson Management Corporation, 994 F.Supp. 187, 192 (S.D.N.Y.1998); Trovato v. City of Manchester, 992 F.Supp. 493, 498 (D.N.H. 1997); see also, 24 C.F.R. § 100.204, Example (2) (2001). Although Plaintiffs have not offered any evidence of the specific nature of Mr. Sporn's handicap, or of the inadequacy of the parking arrangements that pre-existed his request for accommodation, Defendants do not appear to challenge the necessity of Plaintiff's accommodation, but instead focus on the reasonableness of the accommodations they attempted to provide. (See Def. Br. at 26).

"The reasonable accommodation inquiry is highly fact-specific, requiring a case-by-case determination." Hovsons, Inc. v. Township of Brick, 89 F.3d 1096, 1104 (3d cir.1996) (quoting United States v. California Mobile Home Park Management Co., 29 F.3d 1413, 1418 (9th Cir. 1994)). Here, while Plaintiffs have provided no evidence relating to Mr. Sporn's request for a handicapped parking space, Defendants have demonstrated that they did, in fact, take significant steps to provide Mr. Sporn with an acceptable accommodation and never "refused" to permit such accommodations.

The FHA entitles a handicapped individual to "equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling." 42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)(3). Accordingly, "an accommodation should not `extend a preference to handicapped residents [relative to other residents], as opposed to affording them equal opportunity'" and "accommodations that go beyond affording a handicapped tenant `an equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling' are not required by the Act." Hubbard, 994 F.Supp. at 190 (citing United States v. California Mobile Home Park, 29 F.3d 1413, 1418 (9th Cir.1994) and Bryant Woods Inn, Inc. v. Howard Cty. 124 F.3d 597, 605 (4th Cir.1997)). In this...