Victim's family gets $82,500 settlement in fair LI housing case involving emotional support dog

The U.S. Department of Justice announced a settlement agreement Thursday with the East Hampton Housing Authority, resolving a discrimination case involving a minor tenant who was refused permission to accommodate his emotional support dog over the course of a 19-month period in 2021-2022.

As part of the settlement, the Justice Department said the authority agreed to pay the victim’s family $82,500 in damages.

The identity and age of the victim — and, the identity of the victim’s family — was not released.

But the Justice Department said the settlement resolved a long-standing lawsuit alleging the housing authority violated the tenant’s rights under the Fair Housing Act, the authority having taken the position — called "erroneous" by the Justice Department's Eastern District — that emotional support animals "did not qualify for reasonable accommodation under the law."

The Justice Department said the settlement would ensure "equal access to housing" for all East Hampton Housing Authority tenants "who demonstrate their need" for a "reasonable accommodation" for assistance animals.

The housing authority did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment.

"Today’s settlement ensures that tenants with disabilities who require assistance animals will be reasonably accommodated so that they have the same opportunity to use and enjoy their homes as other tenants," U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Joseph Nocella Jr. said in a statement on Thursday.

Under terms of the settlement, the housing authority agreed to adopt what the Justice Department termed "a reasonable accommodation policy regarding requests for assistance animals, comply with certain notice, training, and recordkeeping requirements to ensure that its officers and employees are knowledgeable about and comply with the terms of the Fair Housing Act" — all while also allowing officials to monitor compliance.

In its statement, the Justice Department said the Fair Housing Act "makes it unlawful to discriminate in the terms and conditions of the sale or rental of, or to otherwise make unavailable or deny, a dwelling based on the prospective buyer or renter’s disability" and mandates reasonable accommodations in "rules, policies, practices, and services be provided when necessary to afford equal housing opportunities to persons with disabilities."

By John Valenti

john.valenti@newsday.com

John Valenti, a Newsday reporter since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press, Society of the Silurians and National Headliner Awards for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing. He is the author of “Swee'pea,” about New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. His debut crime novel, “For Nothing Is Hidden,” rooted in 1950s Long Island, was released in October 2025.