Massachusetts City Wins Appeal Over Sprinklers in ‘Sober Houses’

The city of Fitchburg, Mass., rightly beat a lawsuit brought by the operator of several homes for recovering drug and alcohol addicts who said the city violated the ADA by requiring the installation of sprinklers, the First Circuit ruled Oct. 8.

The district court held that Jeffrey D. Summers and Jeffrey’s House Inc., his nonprofit organization, failed to show exempting four recovery facilities from the state law requiring sprinklers was reasonable or necessary to accommodate recovering addicts under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The lawsuit also included claims under the Fair Housing Amendments Act, court records show.

There was “no ...