Lawyer Peter Geraci's Wife Can Sue Condo Association Over Riding Elevator With Dogs

CHICAGO, IL — A judge ruled Thursday to allow the wife of Peter Francis Geraci, the popular Chicago lawyer known for his TV commercials, to continue her housing discrimination lawsuit against her condo association, claiming she was forced to ride her building's elevator with dogs, which she's fearful of because of a past attack, the Chicago Tribune reports.

Holly Geraci filed her lawsuit against the Union Square Condominium Association in March of 2015 after the association refused to keep dogs off the elevator of the River North development on Hubbard Street that's home to the penthouse she and her husband have lived in since 2000, the report stated.

The lawsuit claims the refusal violated the Fair Housing Act and the Illinois Human Rights Act because the association wouldn't accommodated for Geraci's post-traumatic stress disorder, a condition she's suffered from after a German shepherd attack as a child left her afraid of large dogs, the report added.

Holly Geraci filed the lawsuit in 2015, claiming the association wouldn't make allowances for her fear of large dogs.

"I want to be able to get up and down in my elevators without being accosted by dogs," she told the Tribune.

The condo association had asked for summary judgment, but the judge denied that Thursday in favor of allowing Geraci to take the case to trial, according to the report.

RELATED: Wife of Peter Francis Geraci to Pay Six Figures After Assault Lawsuit

With the exception of an older, 10-pound older cairn terrier, Union Square did not allow dogs when the Geracis moved in to their penthouse, the report stated. But that rule was lifted in 2004, and after a few elevator run-ins with dogs and their owners, Geraci began to complain to the association about sharing a confined space with the dogs, the report added.

The breaking point happened in 2013 when Geraci and a dog walker got into an elevator donnybrook. That led to a civil lawsuit that Geraci lost, and a jury ordered her to pay the dog walker $275,000. Geraci is appealing the decision, the Tribune reports.

Even if Geraci loses the Union Square suit, she won't need to share elevators with dogs much longer. She and her husband have purchased an $8.63 million penthouse at the Ritz-Carlton Residences and plan to move in to that residence, which has its own express elevator, in about two years, the report added.

More via the Chicago Tribune

Chicago lawyer Peter Francis Geraci from his TV commercial. (image via Patch Archive)

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