I'm on fire

An information god am I.  I stake this claim because if information is power, then by virtue of my position of a master of information (i.e. a Librarian), I must be a god, right?  Can I get an amen?!?  Anyway, the point to all this is that today I was able to help score one for the little guy using my god-like research prowess.

See, there are a number of retirement homes around where I live.  Apparently, a number of these places have rules against residents having animals of any kind.  I suspect for an animal lover, this must be like living in hell.  

Anyway, today I had a young-ish woman (in her lower 80s) come into the library seeking assistance.  Seems she was living in a place that prohibited animals.  Problem was that she was very lonely and was prone to depression.  Her doctor suggested she get a dog or some other animal to help ease her loneliness/depression.  Turns out, caring for the dog did help her....until she got a notice from the residence that the dog had to go.

In dire straits she was desperate to keep little "skootchy." So, I'm looking around for information about support animals.  Problem was, young-ish lady didn't have a support animal - she had an "emotional support" animal (apparently, a big difference).

After a while of digging, I find reference to Title 29 of the United States Code Section 701 (called the Rehabilitation Act of 1973).  More digging dredges up a case, Janush v. Charities Housing Development Corp., 169 F.Supp. 2d 1133 (N.D. Cal. 2000).  The thing with federal authority is that states really HATE being told what to do by the feds.  Living in the State of California, I needed to find California Authority to help this lady.

So, I use a technique called Shepardizing.  Shepardizing is a way to determine whether a case is "good law" meaning finding what other court cases may have cited to my case or how have other courts treated my case (overturned, followed, distinguished).  As it turned out, I found one case right on point called Auburn Woods v. FEHA, 121 Cal.App. 4th 1578 (2004) which was right what young-ish lady was needing and off she went happy as a lark in spring.  Another customer reeling in nirvana-ish satisfation, I re-center myself and go out looking for someone else on which to impart my goodness and mercy.

Do you need help?  Do you need the services of an information god?  If so, waste not a moment and head on over to your local county law library and pay homage to your local information gods (or goddesses, as the case may be) and let them help you achieve your zen state of mind.