Davis v. Echo Valley Condominium Association, No. 18-2405 (6th Cir. 2019)
Annotate this CaseDavis suffers from asthma but lives in a complex that allows residents to smoke in their condominiums. Davis asserts that the smell of smoke regularly emanating from a neighbor’s condo aggravated her asthma. Unsatisfied with her condo association’s efforts to address the situation, she sued the association, alleging discrimination under the Fair Housing Amendments Act, 42 U.S.C. 3604(f), violations of condo bylaws, and allowing a tortious nuisance to persist. The Sixth Circuit affirmed the rejection of Davis’s claims on summary judgment. The court noted that Davis was apparently able to use her condo for “several years” despite the smoking and that her request does not qualify as a “reasonable accommodation” to the policy of allowing smoking. Reasonable accommodation means a moderate adjustment to a challenged policy, not a fundamental change in the policy. There was no violation of the bylaws, which must be narrowly construed and do not specifically prohibit (or even regulate) smoking. The prohibitions on “offensive activities” and “nuisance” in the bylaws cannot be read subjectively. Davis chose to live in a condo complex whose bylaws do not restrict smoking. Even a small amount of smoke might be a nuisance in a complex that bans smoking, the same cannot be said for a complex that allows it.
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