The rental building at 175 West 79th Street — in the heart of the Upper West Side — would seem like a dream, roughly equidistant from the American Museum of Natural History and Zabar’s.
Realtors extol its luxury, prewar details and list two-bedroom units there for upward of $6,000 a month.
But beware: Lurking in the lobby or elevator is Sam, an emotional support dog effectively terrorizing the building.
So says a lawsuit filed last month by a tenant who was attacked in the elevator in September by Sam, a mixed-breed rescue dog, and needed medical attention. The tenant later discovered that Sam had been involved in roughly a dozen other altercations with residents, staff members and delivery workers in and around the building.
The dog once rushed at a delivery worker in the elevator and bit him while in midair, the lawsuit says. He lunged at a man waiting for a crosstown bus just outside the building. He attacked a doorman in the elevator and “wildly thrashed his mouth back and forth” against the man’s leg, trying to break free of the muzzle he was wearing, according to the lawsuit.
The suit blames Sam’s owners for failing to take preventive action and for refusing to give up the dog or move out. It also claims that the building’s owner and management company, both named as defendants, were aware of the dog’s aggressive behavior but failed to stop it or notify tenants.
