Welcome – my name is Bob Friedman. Along with my partner Mike Ranzenhofer, we manage the Buffalo, New York Law Firm of Friedman & Ranzenhofer, PC.
My father founded this law firm in 1955, and for over 55 years, this firm has been assisting Buffalo area residents with their legal issues. In fact, we’ve been a fixture in WNY for so long, I would imagine we’ve helped a family member, friend or co-worker of yours in the past.
Currently, we have 7 law offices throughout Western New York. They are located in Akron, Batavia, Buffalo, Clarence-Williamsville, Niagara Falls, Rochester and West Seneca. If you require legal assistance from a Buffalo Attorney, you will find a convenient location near your home or place of work. If necessary, we will call on you in your home as well as make hospital visits. Here is some additional information concerning our 7 Buffalo Area Law Offices
Michael and I have more than 60 years of combined experience covering a wide area of legal skills needed in this day-and-age – and we would welcome the opportunity to help you.
The links just below will take you to a web page that can answer many of the questions you might have. You may also find answers to legal issues you might not have considered. Or….look just to the right. You’ll see a search box where you can type in a question, then hit enter. If we have an answer to your question, you’ll find it there.
If we don’t have your answer here, or if you’d like to speak with us, feel free to call and arrange a free consultation – either on the phone or in-person.
We can be reached at 716-542-5444, or if the call is long distance, please call 1-800-729-4571.
Yes. In addition to the ADA provisions about service dogs, there are separate provisions about miniature horses that have been individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities. Miniature horses generally range in height from 24 inches to 34 inches measured to the shoulders and generally weigh between 70 and 100 pounds.
Entities covered by the ADA must modify their policies to permit miniature horses where reasonable. There are four assessment factors to assist entities in determining whether miniature horses can be accommodated in their facility: (1) whether the miniature horse is housebroken; (2) whether the miniature horse is under the owner’s control; (3) whether the facility can accommodate the miniature horse’s type, size, and weight; and (4) whether the miniature horse’s presence will not compromise legitimate safety requirements necessary for safe operation of the facility.
No and in addition, if a business requires a deposit or fee to be paid by patrons with pets, it must waive the charge for service animals. If a business such as a hotel normally charges guests for damage that they cause, a customer with a disability may also be charged for damage caused by himself or his service animal. However, staff are not required to provide care or food for a service animal.
If the dog is out of control and the handler does not take effective action to control it or the dog is not housebroken. When there is a legitimate reason to ask that a service animal be removed, staff must offer the person with the disability the opportunity to obtain goods or services without the animal’s presence. Establishments that sell or prepare food must allow service animals in public areas even if state or local health codes prohibit animals on the premises.
No. Allergies and fear of dogs are not valid reasons for denying access or refusing service to people using service animals. When a person who is allergic to dog dander and a person who uses a service animal must spend time in the same room or facility, such as in a school classroom or at a homeless shelter, they both should be accommodated by assigning them, if possible, to different locations within the room or different rooms in the facility.
When it is not obvious what service an animal provides, only limited inquiries are allowed. Staff may ask whether the dog a service animal required because of a disability and what work or task has the dog been trained to perform.
Staff cannot ask about the person’s disability, require medical documentation, require a special identification card or training documentation for the dog or ask that the dog demonstrate its ability to perform the work or task.
Service animals must be harnessed, leashed, or tethered, unless these devices interfere with the service animal’s work or the individual’s disability prevents using these devices.
In that case, the individual must maintain control of the animal through voice, signal or other effective controls.
Under the ADA, State and local governments, businesses, and nonprofit organizations that serve the public generally must allow service animals to accompany people with disabilities in all areas of the facility where the public is normally allowed to go.
For example, a New York hospital could not exclude a service animal from patient rooms, clinics, cafeterias, or examination rooms. However, it could exclude a service animal from operating rooms or burn units where the animal’s presence could compromise a sterile environment.
If you should require legal advice from an attorney with experience in animal law in NY, give me a call at 716-542-5444.
No. Dogs whose sole function is to provide comfort or emotional support do not qualify as service animals under the ADA. However, this definition does not affect or limit the broader definition of “assistance animal” under the Fair Housing Act or the broader definition of “service animal” under the Air Carrier Access Act.
Some State and local laws also define service animal more broadly than the ADA does. Information about such laws can be obtained from the State Attorney General’s office. The use of service dogs for psychiatric and neurological disabilities is explicitly protected under the ADA. The crime deterrent effects of an animal’s presence do not qualify that animal as a service animal and an animal individually trained to provide aggressive protection, such as an attack dog, is not considered to be a service animal.
Examples of “work or tasks” are guiding people who are blind, alerting people who are deaf, pulling a wheelchair, alerting and protecting a person who is having a seizure, reminding a person with mental illness to take prescribed medications, calming a person with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) during an anxiety attack or performing other duties.
Service animals are working animals, not pets. The work or task a dog has been trained to provide must be directly related to the person’s disability.
