I am involved in a new matter right now involving a reasonable
accommodation request. As I have written any number of times,
management must evaluate and consider every reasonable
accommodation (and/or reasonable modification) request received
from our residents/applicants. No issue about that
whatsoever. The point that struck me as odd is that opposing
counsel demanded management respond within 48 hours or they would
deem the request denied and file a complaint.
To be sure, management needs to timely review and respond to all
requests. But, a self-imposed 48 hour deadline? Seemed
a bit unrealistic to me. Which opens the door to the next
question: just what is reasonable? There is no firm
bright line in the law on that. I have seen 10 days, two
weeks, 15 days and 20 days all fall within the definition of
"reasonable." And those time frames feel about
right. I certainly have never had a court, administrative
agency, or federal department mandate that 48
