Woman evicted from Manhattan flat over parrots wins $750,000

Meril Lesser had called the Rutherford building, in Manhattan’s Gramercy Park, home for nearly two decades when an eviction letter arrived early in the summer of 2016.
The letter marked what neighbours hoped would be the end of an acrimonious battle over Lesser’s three roommates, Layla, Ginger and Curtis — a trio of emotional support parrots.
Eight years later, Lesser is having the last guffaw. She is set to receive $750,000 from the Rutherford, a housing co-operative where residents jointly own the building, after federal prosecutors accused the building’s board of violating fair housing laws by failing to provide disability accommodations.
As part of a consent decree announced this week, the board has agreed to pay Lesser $175,000 in damages and buy her apartment for $585,000 — $85,000 above market value. “This is the largest recovery the Department of Justice has ever obtained for a person with disabilities whose housing provider denied them their right to have an assistance animal,” Damian Williams, a lawyer, said.
Lesser, 48, had bought an apartment in the Rutherford in 1999 and moved in with her birds. Neighbours began complaining about the animals to the board of the 175-unit building in 2015, claiming they screeched and screamed at odd hours.
Fifteen inspections by the New York City Department of Environmental Protection determined there was no evidence of unreasonable noise. Lesser submitted a request to maintain her bird companions as a reasonable accommodation under the Fair Housing Act, and obtained letters from her psychiatrist vouching that she needed the pets for her mental health.
Still, the board went ahead with the eviction process in May of 2016. Lesser then moved out and sublet the apartment.
In 2018 Lesser filed a complaint against the Rutherford with the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The same year, Lesser received a $467,500 offer to purchase her apartment, but it was rejected by the building.
“[The] Rutherford rejected the application from the proposed purchaser, thereby prolonging the dispute and, as alleged by the government, engaging in retaliation against [Lesser] for asserting her rights and [filing the complaint],” prosecutors said.
The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the Rutherford after Lesser declined to accept a settlement when HUD found probable cause that her rights had been violated. The case was resolved with the consent decree announced this week.
The Rutherford did not have to admit guilt as part of the consent decree, but will be required to comply with training and adopt reasonable accommodation policies under its terms. “This outcome should prompt all housing providers to consider carefully whether their policies and procedures comply with federal law,” Williams said.