Former KOs Champ Sues Landlord Over Support Dog Eviction

The Houston Chronicle is reporting that Former IMPACT Wrestling Knockouts Champion Brooke Adams is suing her former landlord, claiming that she was wrongfully evicted because of her emotional support dog, Waffles. Adams testified that she suffered from postpartum depression and the loss of her father as the reasons the dog was added to the family.
Adams & her fiancé, Weston Wayne Piper, initially paid a pet deposit fee for a small dog, named Noodles, back in February of 2017. The couple would bring the emotional support dog, Waffles, in on December of 2017.
Fan Chen, who owns the property and Rutkun Tao, The Property Manager, noticed the below Instagram post by Adams and realized the dog was not the same as the original on the agreement. Adams was then told they had violated the terms of the lease and were asked to pay an additional pet deposit fee.

Adams testified that they offered to pay the fee, but the owner refused and gave two eviction notices over the coarse of a couple of weeks. Adams & her fiancé would vacate the house on New Year’s Eve of 2017.
In the report, “Under federal housing laws, landlords are required to provide reasonable accommodations to tenants with service and assistance animals, such as an emotional support dog. Guidelines from HUD say that tenants must make requests to their landlords for accommodations. Assistance and service animals are not considered pets under federal law, however.” Adams said that she believed it was her “right” to have the dog.
A month after the couple left the property, the former landlord demanded close to $14,000 for lost rent, lost attorney fees and other charges connected to the couple leaving the house. Adams & Piper initially sued Chen in state court, but that was moved to federal court in November of 2018. The trial was recently scheduled to continue.