Want a small glimpse of law school?

I'm sure you don't, but I'm too tired and sick-feeling to whip up anything more than what I am already working on. So here goes:

"Our client, Mr. Adam Young, believes he has been the victim of discrimination in violation of the New York City Administrative Code, section 8-107. The alleged discrimination comes in the form of the denial of a routine lease renewal by his current landlord.

Mr. Young is an African-American of West Indian descent who has resided in a rent-stabilized one-bedroom apartment at 837 Cloremount Avenue, Brooklyn since 1995. He is a successful advertising executive who makes timely rental payments; in fact, he is one of just a handful of tenants who has set up automatic payment of the rent from his bank account. Over the past eight years, he has successfully renewed his two-year lease four separate times by sending a short letter to the management of the building requesting a renewal. Though his interactions with the neighbors are limited, many of them hold him in high regard and, up until April 2004, he had never been the recipient of a complaint.

Last January, the building was sold to Clemens Properties, Inc. Lee Clemens, the new owner, also hired Jesse Jones as superintendent. About two months later, Alex Pierce, a caucasion graduate student at a nearby medical center, moved in with Mr. Young. Shortly thereafter, Mr. Pierce adopted a stray dog named Cleo, a Shepard-retriever mix. Mr. Young’s lease does not prohibit him from having a roommate or a dog.

The dog, however, did manage to cause some slight problems with the other tenants in the building. Several complaints were made directly to Mr. Young regarding the loud barking of the dog (although, to his knowledge, not to the building management). One complaint came from Ms. McArdle, who lives one floor above Mr. Young and also finds the “baby in 5A” and the “collie in 4A” to be “chronic nuisance[s]”. Mr. Young attributes the dog’s troublesome behavior to its new environment and maintains that the noise situation has been resolved. Ms. Fox, who lives in Apartment 4C and is a neighbor of Mr. Young, corroborates this claim. There was one additional incident during which the dog, though on a leash, jumped up on another of his neighbors, Ms. Dreier, in the elevator, but it is not clear whether she complained to anyone other than Mr. Young. Mr. Young asserts that she overreacted to the dog’s playful behavior, but has since made certain to keep the dog away from the other tenants and always keeps the dog on a leash.

Since Mr. Pierce moved in with him, Mr. Young has had several unpleasant encounters with Mr. Jones, the new superintendent. Most disturbingly, he was prevented from entering the building one night as he returned from work by a handyman who let him pass only when Mr. Jones allowed it. Neither Mr. Jones nor the handyman apologized or offered an explanation for the incident. This treatment angered Mr. Young but he did not make a formal complaint. Mr. Jones also ignored Mr. Young’s request to repair a window in his apartment, even though he had quickly fixed a faucet leak soon after Mr. Pierce moved in. Mr. Young also noticed that Mr. Jones did not greet him and tended to speak in a condescending tone, if at all, while other residents were treated more respectfully. Mr. Pierce also claims similar treatment from Mr. Jones, as well as from the residents of the building.

Persevering despite the incidents, in December 2004, Mr. Young sent a letter of renewal to Mr. Clemens as he had done with the previous building owners. The renewal was denied with no explanation. After Mr. Young repeatedly attempted to determine the reason for the refusal, Mr. Clemens told him that there had been complaints about the dog; Mr. Young suspects a more invidious motive. Our investigation uncovered evidence that one tenant, Mr. Foote, accompanied by his neighbor, Mr. Stevens, complained to Mr. Jones about the “mixed, backward, and unnatural” relationship Mr. Young and Mr. Pierce shared. In reaction to this, Mr. Jones made a brief phonecall and promised that management “would do what it could to remedy the situation.” There was also evidence that other tenants made similarly derogatory remarks and treated Mr. Pierce with what he perceived to be obvious disapproval (is this true?).

Given close to 10 years as a model tenant, Mr. Young is understandably indignant over the discriminatory treatment from Mr. Clemens and his staff and the undeserved renewal rejection. Furthermore, he has suffered a great deal of pain and anguish due to the situation. He seeks relief from the New York City Commission of Human rights for the discrimination detailed herein."