CRANBERRY TWP — The federal government brought a suit against a Cranberry-based property management company Friday, claiming it discriminated against people on the basis of disability.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, includes accusations that Perry Homes and two property owners affiliated with the company, Allyson and Robert Whittington, unlawfully prohibited persons with emotional support animals from renting units.

Perry Homes' attorneys, Gilliland Vanasdale Sinatra Law Office and Hunt Huey, called the case “government overreach” and claimed the federal government's policy toward emotional support animals contradicts what it claims in the lawsuit.

“Perry Homes will vigorously defend the lawsuit and its long-standing business of making housing available to those with and without disabilities on an equal basis,” the attorneys added in a statement.

This lawsuit follows a Department of Housing and Urban Development charge in February based on the same allegations.

According to the Feb. 10 charge filed before an administrative judge and the Friday complaint in federal court, Southwestern Pennsylvania Legal Services conducted a series of discrimination tests between October 2018 and Feb. 19, calling Perry Homes and asking whether the company would waive its no-pet policy for emotional support animals at three properties in Cranberry, Harmony and Zelienople.Five different times between October 2018 and February 2019, the lawsuit claims, the company refused to allow emotional support animals.When the nonprofit called with respect to a rental at 322 German St. in Harmony, a tester told an agent her husband had an emotional support dog and offered documentation from a psychologist. The agent, however, said Perry Homes would only accept service dogs with specific training, according to the complaint.

Another tester called the company about renting a unit at 312 McKim St. in Zelienople, saying her husband had post-traumatic stress disorder and had an emotional support dog. An agent, according to the lawsuit, asked if the dog was registered as a service dog, to which the tester replied only a letter “documenting the need for the animal” was required.“Additionally, on several occasions since October 2018, Perry Homes refused to make reasonable accommodations to its no-pets policy for renters who stated they had an emotional support animal for their disability,” the lawsuit adds.But Perry Homes' attorneys say the legal services group's campaign “has not produced a single instance of discrimination against any actual prospective tenant.”“Perry Homes does not engage in discrimination of any type and has a 50-year record of serving Butler County to back that up,” the statement said.The government accuses the defendants of violating the Fair Housing Act, and asks the court to declare its conduct illegally discriminatory, prevent it from further discrimination and to award monetary damages to the legal services group.