Wood v. Briarwinds Condominium Ass'n Board of Directors

369 F. App'x 1
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
DecidedMarch 3, 2010
Docket09-12704
StatusUnpublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 369 F. App'x 1 (Wood v. Briarwinds Condominium Ass'n Board of Directors) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wood v. Briarwinds Condominium Ass'n Board of Directors, 369 F. App'x 1 (11th Cir. 2010).

Opinion

PER CURIAM:

Denny Wood, pro se, appeals the district court’s dismissal of several of his claims brought under the Fair Housing Act (“FHA”), 42 U.S.C. §§ 3604, 3617, and of his breach of contract claim; grant of summary judgment to Briarwinds Condominium Association Board of Directors (“Briar-winds”) as to his two remaining FHA claims; and denial of his motion to appoint counsel. After thorough review, we affirm in part and vacate and remand in part.

First, we affirm the district court’s dismissal of Wood’s FHA claims. To survive a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6), a plaintiff must allege in his complaint sufficient facts “to raise a right to relief above the speculative level.” Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555-56, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007) (citation omitted). Thus, “conclusory allegations, unwarranted deductions of facts[,] or legal conclusions masquerading as facts will not prevent dismissal.” Oxford Asset Mgmt., Ltd. v. Johans, 297 F.3d 1182, 1188 (11th Cir.2002). However, we construe pro se pleadings liberally. Boxer X v. Harris, 437 F.3d 1107, 1110 (11th Cir.2006).

The FHA provides that it is unlawful to “discriminate against any person in terms, conditions, or privileges of sale or rental of a dwelling, or in the provision of services or facilities in connection with such dwell *3 ing, because of a handicap.” 42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)(2)(A). Discrimination under § 3604 includes “a refusal to permit, at the expense of the handicapped person, reasonable modifications of existing premises occupied or to be occupied by such person if such modifications may be necessary to afford such person full enjoyment of the premises” or “a refusal to make reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices, or services, when such accommodations may be necessary to afford such person equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling.” 42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)(3)(A) & (B).

With respect to each of the dismissed discrimination claims, Wood either abandoned the claim or failed to allege any FHA violation. Specifically, Wood abandoned his claims that Briarwinds’s failure to store the pool lift during inclement weather and that the reconfiguration of his parking space violate the FHA, because he did not raise those arguments on appeal. See Horsley v. Feldt, 304 F.3d 1125, 1131 n. 1 (11th Cir.2002). Nor will we consider Wood’s claim that the use of a mask and snorkel in the community pool is a legitimate accommodation for his disability, because he does not provide any argument in support of this request or otherwise explain how Briarwinds’s pool rules violate the FHA. Id.

As for Wood’s other claims — (1) inaccessibility of Briarwinds’s pool furniture; (2) inaccessibility of Briarwinds’s picnic tables and grills; (3) Briarwinds’s failure to allow Wood to install a heat pump in the pool; and (4) Briarwinds’s use of speed bumps in the parking lot — we adopt the district court’s thorough reasoning dismissing them. Wood does not allege that Briarwinds refused his offer to modify any of the above-mentioned property conditions at his own expense, other than the lack of a pool heater, which does not constitute discrimination under the FHA because heating the pool is not required to ensure that Wood can enjoy the pool area equally with non-disabled residents, see 42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)(2)(A), (f)(3)(A) & (B). Further, the district court correctly dismissed Wood’s claim that the design of the guest parking spaces were discriminatory, because he did not have standing to bring that claim. His complaint contains no allegation that he ever used those parking spots or suffered any injury himself from their design. See Elend v. Basham, 471 F.3d 1199, 1205 (11th Cir.2006).

The FHA also provides that “[i]t shall be unlawful to coerce, intimidate, threaten, or interfere with any person in the exercise or enjoyment of, or on account of his having exercised or enjoyed” any right granted or protected under the FHA. 42 U.S.C. § 3617; see Sofarelli v. Pinellas County, 931 F.2d 718, 722 (11th Cir.1991) (finding that a note threatening “to break [the plaintiff] in half,” hitting his truck, shouting obscenities and spitting at him constituted coercion and intimidation under § 3617 when there was also an indication that there was a discriminatory motivation behind that conduct). As for Wood’s FHA retaliation claim, he failed to allege conduct that rises to the level of coercion or intimidation under the FHA; he alleges only that he was retaliated against when his van, which was leaking oil, was towed, a board member complained that he was violating the pool rules by using a mask and snorkel in the pool, and the same board member assessed fines against Wood for the oil leak and took photographs of him. That conduct does not rise to the level of intimidation or threats, nor did Wood demonstrate any nexus between the complained about conduct and his FHA protected activity. Therefore, the district court did not err in *4 dismissing these FHA discrimination and retaliation claims.

Wood also argues that the district court erred in dismissing his breach of contract claim 1 , which alleged that Briar-winds violated previous contractual agreements dictating the size of his parking space. Briarwinds says on appeal that this issue is moot, because Briarwinds has reconfigured the parking space to meet Wood’s specifications. However, it appears that no evidence of this modification was presented to the district court. Moreover, the district court did not adequately address Wood’s breach of contract claim. It states only that “Wood has failed to allege that his parking space violates the FHA or a prior conciliation agreement,” and does not address Wood’s contention in his complaint that Briarwinds “violated the terms of the Conciliation Agreement of 1994 ... by reducing the plaintiffs assigned parking space to 89 inches from the 144 inches.” See Simmons v. Wainwright, 462 F.2d 1340, 1342 (5th Cir.1972) (vacating and remanding a district court’s dismissal of a plaintiffs claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983

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369 F. App'x 1, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wood-v-briarwinds-condominium-assn-board-of-directors-ca11-2010.