Whatever happened to? Marco man, condo reach agreement on service dog

Article Courtesy of The Naples News

By Aisling Swift

Published January 30, 2013

 

MARCO ISLAND — Kane, a trained service dog, can sit and stay at his owner's Marco Island condominium community.

But other terms of Larry McKay's settlement with South Seas East Condominium Apartments over his federal lawsuit and alleged violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act remain confidential.

McKay, who sued the condo association last February, is barred from commenting, as is his attorney, Casey Weidenmiller of Naples. South Seas' attorney, Matthew Rabin of Sunrise, also declined to comment.

The community prohibits dogs, but McKay wasn't disabled when he purchased his condo in December 2008. A month later, he was in a Maryland hotel bathroom and noticed his foot was bleeding. The next morning, he was sick and couldn't move, then collapsed and kept falling down.

A friend later took him to the emergency room, where doctors discovered he had MRSA — methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, a powerful infection resistant to most antibiotics. It had traveled up his leg and into his spine, prompting doctors to put him into a medically induced coma. They removed a portion of his toe and spine, shortening him an inch.

For three weeks, he remained in intensive care and then was in rehabilitation for six weeks. When he returned to his Virginia home, he was unable to care for his two daughters and two dogs, including Kane. He learned to walk again, but the infection returned in December 2009 and he underwent three amputations until his right big toe was removed.
 
He sent Kane to Aberdeen Acres in Virginia, where Russ Ebersole trained the 80-pound boxer as a service dog. Kane learned how to help McKay stand, prevent him from falling, and to turn on the lights and other appliances.

But South Seas filed a complaint with the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, alleging the state didn't have enough information to verify his request for a service dog. McKay denied that, but was recovering from surgery and unable to travel when the association won a default judgment.

So McKay filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Fort Myers, saying the ADA, the federal Fair Housing Act and Florida Housing Rights Act were violated. The lawsuit said McKay is handicapped, his impairments substantially limit him from walking and balancing and that the service dog should have been allowed as an accommodation under the ADA.

Ebersole, who has trained roughly 300 dogs, said McKay told him he's been rehabilitated by Kane because he provides what a cane and walker can't do.

"With a cane, if you're across the room and fall, it's not going to get up and walk to you," Ebersole said. "With a dog like Kane, you say 'help' and Kane runs to your side. You don't even have to say the word and he sprints to your side."

The case was disposed of last month after going to mediation, which resulted in the confidential settlement.


Marco Island man in battle over need for service dog in no-pet condo

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