By Laurel J. Sweet Friday, July 13, 2007 - Updated: 04:57 AM EST
Somewhere in heaven, Adam Sten-Clanton is wagging his tail.
The state Commission Against Discrimination has ordered New York bus company Fung Wah to pay a blind Dorchester couple more than $60,000 for refusing them and their late service dog passage to the Big Apple.
揌e certainly didn抰 cause anybody any trouble. He was quite friendly enough,� Albert Sten-Clanton, 52, said yesterday of Adam, the faithful Labrador retriever who died in 2005, a year after Sten-Clanton and his wife Mary, 47, were turned away by a Fung Wah ticket agent in Chinatown in 15-degree weather.
揑 see this decision as a strike for justice, and, I hope, a deterrent for any future behavior of this sort,� Sten-Clanton said. 揑t抯 a simple point: Treat people right.� The MCAD decision in support of a discrimination lawsuit brought against Fung Wah by Attorney General Martha Coakley抯 office also demands Fung Wah implement a service-animal policy and designate a complaint officer approved by MCAD.
Fung Wah did not respond to a request for comment.
The Sten-Clantons - Albert with Adam and Mary with a cane - were headed to Manhattan on Jan. 15, 2004, for the musical 揥icked� and chose the cut-rate carrier to save money.
Fung Wah President Pei Lin Liang, who was near a ticket seller at the Crown Royal Bakery, told the couple pets weren抰 allowed because another passenger could be allergic.
In a Catch-22, Fung Wah employee Winston Kwok Chu-Lo wouldn抰 even sell Mary Sten-Clanton a ticket to travel alone, telling her, 揑f you don抰 have a dog, who is guiding you?�
MCAD found Fung Wah 搈ade no inquiry about the dog抯 training and/or behavior� and 揳cted on the basis of an unfounded assumption,� thus violating the Sten-Clantons� right to accommodation under state law.
The Sten-Clantons, Broadway buffs, made their show that night, thanks to Boston police taking them to Amtrak. Adam, who was welcomed by the theater, 搒lept right through it,� Albert Sten-Clanton said. 揥hen we came back from New York, we knew we had to do something.�
- lsweet@bostonherald.com
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