Instead, the Rutherford leaned heavily on Charlotte Kullen. Her six-hour deposition, taken in September 2022, is difficult to read, in part because it captures her distress and in part because that distress is, legally speaking, beside the point. The judge overseeing the case signaled that she wanted a mediator to help the sides come to a settlement, and on Aug. 16, 2024, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York issued a press release with the result.
The Rutherford would have to pay Ms. Lesser a total of $750,000 — $585,000, for the shares in her apartment plus $165,000 in damages. The release described the settlement as the largest ever obtained “for a person with disabilities whose housing provider denied them their right to have an assistance animal.”
Reporters and TV cameras briefly camped outside the Rutherford. Most residents knew little or nothing about the case, so late in October, the board finally explained all on a Zoom call. Residents took turns asking questions, trying to grasp the scale of the damage. In addition to the settlement, more than $400,000 had been spent on legal fees, half covered by the building, half by the building’s insurer.
“With all due respect,” said one resident, Andrew Garn, “I see a culture of litigation.”
Mr. Troy, the board president, did not return emailed requests for comment.
A Jar of Feathers
The Rutherford is a co-op, which means buyers agree to a lengthy set of bylaws intended to elevate the quality of life. This confers on co-op boards outsize power, and in many cases the president has outsize power over the board. Mr. Shmulewitz, the real estate lawyer, said he had encountered plenty of co-op leaders who were as imperious as any medieval monarch.
