Our firm receives many calls regarding small claims cases. One issue that immediately becomes a problem is that small claims are limited to damages under $10,000. Legal fees a client pays to us will cut into those damages very quickly, without any guarantee of a court win. This can make it difficult to fiscally justify being hired onto a small claims case. 

Recently, Judicare opened a free mediation program for small claims cases in Portage County. If you go to a small claims return date, you will see Judicare mediators milling about waiting to help people try and solve their disputes without further litigation. 

Their website says “Even if you have not yet filed a lawsuit, you can still request Judicare to mediate a dispute between you and another party.” This makes their services incredibly valuable because you may be able to resolve a dispute before you begin to incur any court fees. 

There are certainly cases that have long-term effects or are more legally complex and should involve a lawyer. Mediation requires the other party to participate, and so there are plenty of cases that cannot be solved through mediation simply because of the parties involved. But, if you are considering filing a lawsuit in Small Claims Court in Portage County, it may be worth your time to contact Judicare to see if they can help mediate your dispute before you or the other party start paying court or legal fees. 

Please go to the Judicare’s website for more information. If you are in another county, check Judicare’s website to see if they offer this program in your county. https://www.judicare.org/mediation/

What are the rules for landlords and tenants when it comes to emotional support animals?

For landlords there are important rules to follow to avoid running afoul with Wisconsin and Federal Discrimination laws.

An Emotional Support Animal (ESA) is defined in Wis. Stat. §106.50 as “an animal that provides emotional support, well-being, comfort, or companionship for an individual but that is not trained to perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability.” That means that an ESA does not need any specific training in order to qualify under this statute.

In general ESAs are protected and landlords cannot discriminate against tenants with ESAs and must provide reasonable accommodations for owners of ESAs during the application process, when deciding on fees or in an eviction. The ESA must be necessary to afford the tenant the equal opportunity to use the dwelling and there needs to be a connection between the disability of the tenant and the accommodation the ESA provides.

Landlords can request the tenant seeking the accommodation to submit “reliable documentation” from a licensed health professional that shows (1) the tenant has a disability and (2) the related need for the ESA. If the disability and the need for the ESA are readily apparent or already known by the landlord, the landlord should not require the tenant to provide this documentation because that could be considered harassment.

Landlords can follow-up with the listed licensed health professional to ensure the professional is real and licensed. The health professional will not be able to discuss the tenant’s health with the landlord without violating HIPPA. However, it is likely that if the tenant supplies the landlord with a letter, the health professional will be willing to acknowledge they wrote a letter for the client. This should give the landlord comfort in knowing that the tenant is likely not lying.

If the tenant can provide the necessary paperwork, landlords cannot refuse housing, impose fines, evict or harass the tenant as a result of the ESA and must provide reasonable accommodations. The most common accommodations are (1) allowing the tenant to live with an ESA where the landlord normally has a no-pets policy or (2) waiving any pet deposit or other pet related fee.

From the legal perspective, ESAs are not “pets” and are closer to medical devices that the tenant needs in order to have an equal opportunity to enjoy the housing. This is an important distinction and can help landlords justify letting one tenant have an ESA but not allowing another tenant to have a pet.

Even though the tenant cannot be forced to pay a deposit or fee for having the ESA in the dwelling, the tenant is still liable “for sanitation with respect to, and damage to the premises caused by the [ESA].” This means that a landlord does not need to take on any extra liability when it comes to the ESA. Upon termination of the lease, the landlord should check for any sanitation issues with or damage to the property, because those are things that the tenant is responsible for and for which the tenant cannot receive accommodations.