MTCA offers to meet with mother of alleged discrimination victim

12-Jan-08 – An attorney for Marina Towers Condominium Association has invited Karlene Petitt to attend the January 17 board of directors meeting at which her request for accommodation of a support dog for her daughter will be considered. However, citing legal fees charged to her by MTCA when she attended a previous meeting, the Seattle woman has declined the invitation.

In a letter to Karlene dated January 10, MTCA attorney Pamela J. Park says the earlier fees were charged because it was a violation hearing and the board had found her daughter in violation of condo association rules. Park emphasizes that Karlene would not be charged for attending the January 17 meeting.

Karlene, however, is not convinced. In her response to the letter, she says the previous time, she received a bill for $1600 to do exactly what Park is inviting her to do. “This exorbitant fee of my showing up to this Kangaroo court was then added to my assessments, with fines, etc., and you know the rest. As I stated, I do not intend on going down that path again.”

Petitt, a Seattle-based airline pilot and Marina City condominium owner, was sued by MTCA in 2006 over a support dog that lawfully resided in her condo unit. Although awarded about $5,000, Marina Towers Condominium Association allegedly spent $27,000 pursuing the case.

Her daughter, Krysta, has lived in the east tower unit since 2004. Diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, Krysta had a support dog named Biscuit.

Petitt purchased the unit through John Leonard, who represented the previous owner. She says Leonard, who is married to MTCA board president Donna Leonard, knew about the support dog.

The dog lived in the east tower for about a year before MTCA complained. Petitt was initially fined $110, but MTCA invited her to attend an informal meeting in 2005 at which the matter would be discussed, with the possibility, she was told, of the fine being dropped and the dog allowed to return.

Present at that meeting was MTCA attorney Ellis Levin, who billed the condo association for his time. MTCA then passed those fees onto Petitt, adding it to her monthly assessments.

Also present at the meeting was Dr. Gary Kimmel, then still a board member. Petitt says she got the impression from Kimmel that the dog could stay since it had the proper documentation for a support dog.

[Kimmel resigned from the board in January 2006 after being indicted on a federal money laundering charge linked to a nationwide prostitution ring.]

However, MTCA did not inform her of any decision – apart from a growing list of charges that were being added to her assessments. The charges included fines, attorney fees, and late charges. Petitt says she was charged for Levin to research the 1992 Disability Discrimination Act, which made disability discrimination unlawful.

She says she paid her regular assessments but disputed the additional charges. She called the MTCA office to ask the fees be charged separate from her assessments. She was told by assistant property manager Sandra Magdelano that Levin had instructed her to include the fees as assessments.

An attorney in Seattle, Michael Regeinbal, initially helped Petitt with the dispute, writing and responding to letters from Levin. He then suggested Petitt write to MTCA, which she did but did not get a response.

According to Petitt, Regeinbal told her, “Karlene, it would be unethical for me to take any more of your money in this. This guy is nuts,” referring to Levin, “and he is only doing this to feather his bed and he will never stop.”

She says she tried to call property manager David Gantt but he would not return her phone calls. In February 2006, John Leonard called her and suggested she try again to reach Gantt. This time, he did take her call and said to her, according to Petitt, “It sounds like you want to pay money to make this go away.”

In June 2006, Petitt was sued by MTCA for charges which by then totaled more than $20,000. At this time, she contacted a Chicago attorney, Timothy Donohue.

The case went through at least three judges. The first judge, says Petitt, berated Levin, who then complained and got the judge to recuse himself. The second judge had to recuse herself because she is friends with the Leonards, and had dinner with them the night before the hearing.

A subsequent judge, believing Petitt had allowed the case to fester to avoid paying the $110 fine, ruled in favor of MTCA but awarded it $4,358.43.

According to Pettit, one of the judges told Levin the MTCA has “the worst tenant/board relationship he had ever seen.”

Biscuit currently lives with Karlene in Seattle. Her daughter is spending more time with her boyfriend.

MTCA attorney Ellis Levin and residential property manager David Gantt did not respond to a request for comment for this article.

Pamela J. Park is a senior litigator with Kovitz Shifrin Nesbit, a Buffalo Grove, Illinois, law firm specializing in condominium and homeowner associations.	MTCA attorney and former Illinois state representative Ellis Levin, seen here in an undated photo most likely from the 1980s.	Biscuit is a licensed support dog that allegedly cost MTCA $27,000 to evict.

A housing discrimination complaint against Marina Towers Condominium Association is still being examined by the Illinois Department of Human Rights. The complaint was filed by Krysta Petitt over a support dog that was evicted in 2005.

In a letter to Karlene dated December 26, 2007, MTCA attorney Pamela Park disputed the complaint. She says the Petitts failed to provide MTCA with sufficient information to support their claim that Krysta was disabled and entitled to accommodation under the Fair Housing Act.

The Fair Housing Act prohibits housing providers, including condominium associations, from refusing to make reasonable accommodations for disabled residents, including allowing them to have service and support animals even if there is a policy against pets.

Park says evidence supplied by the Petitts – a statement by a psychiatrist who examined Krysta – is irrelevant to the complaint because the examination took place after the discrimination allegedly occurred. MTCA, she says, considers the information supplied most recently by the Petitts to be a new request for accommodation under the Fair Housing Act, and the association will consider it at its January 17 board meeting.