Court Opinion

ID: 9699494
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 20:27:52.553401+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:20:51.443647
License: Public Domain

FLAHERTY, Senior Judge,
dissenting.
Doral II presents an interesting issue for our consideration. Was the Commission’s determination that Doral II unlawfully discriminated against Muriel Zaslow supported by substantial evidence?
Section 5(h)(3.1) of the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act (PHRA)1 provides in pertinent part:
It shall be an unlawful discriminatory practice ... [f]or any person to ... [rjefuse to permit, at the expense of a person with a handicap, 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 ....
43 P.S. § 955(h)(3.1). Section 5(h)(3.2) provides in pertinent part:
It shall be an unlawful discriminatory practice ... [f]or any person to ... [rjefuse 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 housing accommodation.
43 P.S. § 955(h)(3.2).
Doral II asserts that the Commission’s findings are not supported by substantial evidence because Doral II presented sufficient evidence to demonstrate that the Zaslows could not install the chairlift without violating the local building code and that there was a substantial threat to the health and safety of persons using the building’s stairway. Initially, it is noted that, in Philadelphia, the procedure to install a chairlift in a condominium common area hallway must begin with the approval of the condominium’s governing board. (Finding of Fact No. 56 by the Hearing Examiner and adopted by the Commission, hereafter F.F.) Thereafter, an application for a building permit would have to be filed with Licenses and Inspections. (F.F. No. 57.) If refused there, a variance would have to be sought by asking for a review by both the Accessibility Advisory Board and the Board of Building Standards. (F.F. No. 58.) Frequently, the Board of Building Standards has granted variances in situations similar to Zaslow’s. (F.F. Nos. 61, 62.) “Some of the criteria *610reviewed.. .would be the number of units affected (here one unit); the number of persons living there (again, one person); and the number of persons who could live in an affected area.” (F.F. No. 63.) All of the evidence presented by Doral II pertaining to the alleged building code violation and safety risks posed by installation of the chairlift came in the form of Kobe-lin’s expert testimony. It is further observed that the Commission specifically discredited Kobelin’s testimony upon which the majority opinion is based. Commission Opinion at 22. The Commission specifically found that “[t]he information provided to Doral II’s board by Mr. Kobe-lin can only be described as sorely lacking and incomplete. The reality of the situation is that Mr. Kobelin’s report either inadvertently or possibly intentionally omitted critical information.” Commission Opinion at 22.
The Commission further found Gray Smith’s expert testimony on behalf of Zas-low credible that “it would have been technically feasible to install a chairlift on the stairway outside unit F-12 without endangering the health, safety, and welfare of either residents or the public in general and that a variance could have been secured.” (F.F. No. 64.) As fact finder, the Commission is the sole arbiter of credibility and this Court should not disturb such determinations on appeal. Vending Distributors v. Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission, 162 Pa.Cmwlth. 602, 639 A.2d 953, 956 (1994). I have to conclude that Smith’s credited testimony, together with the credited testimony of Zas-low’s other witnesses when considered in conjunction with statements contained in Doral II’s denial notices, provide ample substantial evidence to support the Commission’s determination that Doral II failed to provide a reasonable accommodation for Muriel Zaslow’s disability as required under § 5(h)(3.1) and (3.2) of the PHRA. 43 P.S. § 955(h)(3.1)(3.2). There is no substantial evidence to support the majority’s decision which seemingly makes its own credibility decisions, crediting Kobelin after the Board discredited him.
The majority decision is entirely based upon a declaration that the Commission committed an error of law when it determined that a reasonable accommodation for a person so handicapped would have been for Doral II to have granted permission for the chairlift to be installed conditional upon Zaslow obtaining the variance necessary to comply with the building Code. How such consent can be construed as an unreasonable accommodation by the majority is mystifying. If the consent were given and the variance obtained, a very sick elderly lady would have been helped to enjoy her last days with the full consent of her neighbors. To withhold that consent, Doral was acting in an arbitrary manner based solely on its past practice and its by-laws, which are a direct violation of Section 5(h)(3.2) of the PHRA, “[t]o refuse to make reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices ... that may be necessary to afford such person equal opportunity to use and enjoy a housing accommodation.”
The majority decision, in effect, repeals Section 5(h)(3.2) by upholding the rules and policies of Doral II in spite of the legislative mandate that Doral II cannot refuse to make a reasonable accommodation to a handicapped person by refusing to change its rules or policies. All Doral II had to do to make such reasonable accommodation was to consent to the chair lift if Zaslow could get the variance as his architect assured him. The majority cannot legislate judicially that a reasonable accommodation does not have to be made if it requires a person to change its rules or policies to permit a handicapped person to seek a variance.
*611Accordingly, I do not see any competent substantial evidence admitted or credited by the Commission upon which the majority bases its opinion. I do find evidence credited by the Commission which amounts to substantial evidence. I do not find any error of law by the Commission.2 In accordance with our limited scope of review I do, therefore, dissent and would affirm the Commission’s order dated August 29, 2000.

. Act of October 27, 1955, P.L. 744, as amended, 43 P.S. § 955(h)(3.1) and (3.2).

. Since Appellant has raised no constitutional issue, our review of an order of the Commission is limited solely to determining whether an error of law has been committed or whether the Commission’s findings of fact are supported by substantial evidence. Lincoln Realty Management Company v. Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission, 143 Pa.Cmwlth. 54, 598 A.2d 594, 596 (1991). Substantial evidence needed to support a finding of the Commission is such relevant evidence that a reasonable mind, without weighing evidence or substituting its judgment for that of the Commission, might accept as adequate to support the conclusion reached. Borough of Economy v. Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission, 660 A.2d 143 (Pa.Cmwlth.1995). Resolution of witness credibility is a function solely within the province of the Commission as fact finder. Vending Distributors v. Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission, 162 Pa.Cmwlth. 602, 639 A.2d 953, 956 (1994).