Mayle v. Chicago Park District

Mayle v. Chicago Park District
Filing Date	9/11/2018
Original Jurisdiction	US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
Plaintiff	Kenneth William Mayle
Defendant	Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Division of Parks And Recreation; Jefferson Sessions, U.S. Attorney General; Cook County Animal Control; City of Chicago; Chicago Parks District
Intervenor	N/A
State	Illinois
Case#	1:18-cv-06211
Original Result	Dismissed (failure)
First Appeal	0:19-cv-03208 Affirmed (failure)
Second Appeal	N/A
Final Result	Failure

Seventh Circuit opinion

The City of Chicago bars Kenneth Mayle from bringing his emotional-support hog into public places. A regulation under the Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. § 12182, requires that public entities allow “service animals” such as dogs, but not hogs, to accompany people with disabilities. Mayle sued the City and others, alleging that they are violating his rights under the ADA and the Equal Protection Clause. The district court dismissed Mayle’s complaint. It correctly reasoned that Mayle did not state a claim under the ADA, and the regulation that excludes hogs as service animals is rational, foreclosing his equal-protection claim. Thus we affirm.

Mayle owns a Guinea hog (named Chief Wiggum) that provides support for his bipolar disorder. (Because we are reviewing a dismissal for failure to state a claim, we take the well-pleaded facts as true. Royce v. Michael R. Needle P.C., 950 F.3d 939, 951 (7th Cir. 2020).) Mayle has trained the hog to respond to his anxiety attacks and alleviate his depression by providing him with massage therapy. The hog also encourages Mayle to engage in physical activity, which helps mitigate his mental-health conditions. He secures his hog on his bicycle when he rides it for exercise.

Mayle has been barred from entering public places around Chicago with his hog. These include city beaches (he was ejected from one after swimming with the hog in Lake Michigan), Millennium Park, and Grant Park. Mayle fears the “constant threat of citizen harassment” as people have objected to the animal’s presence and called the police to report him after seeing him enter public spaces with the hog.

Mayle sued the City of Chicago and other public entities and officials. As relevant to this appeal, he alleged that his hog should be considered a “service animal” under the ADA, and if it is not, then the ADA’s regulation that excludes his hog violates his right to equal protection. After a couple rounds of briefing, the district court granted the defendants’ motions to dismiss the ADA and equal-protection claims.

The Seventh Circuit affirmed the lower court's ruling.