Westchester Plaza Holdings, LLC filed a summary holdover
proceeding to evict Gertrude Sherwood and her son, Sheldon
Sherwood, on the ground that they had failed to cure their
violation of the no-pet clause in the parties’ lease.
Specifically, Westchester Plaza claimed that the Sherwoods
had violated their lease by harboring a dog without
landlord’s permission. and sought a final judgment of
possession of their rental apartment. Gertrude did not appear in
the action. Sheldon appeared and asserted that the dog was an
emotional support animal entitling him to keep the pet in the
apartment under the State's Human Rights Law.
A non-jury trial was held before the Court. Westchester Plaza
called Jana Schmidt, its in-house counsel, who testified that she
was informed sometime in late February or March of 2019 that
the Sherwoods were harboring a dog in the apartment in
contravention of the parties’ lease. Schmidt further
testified that, after being informed of the dog in
