Dog Owner Gives Bite to Access Law : Disabled: Epileptic man has fought to bring his service animal into stores and hospitals.

James Maaske gets mad when someone tells him, “Dogs are not allowed.”

Maaske, an epileptic who has frequent seizures, wants his service dog, Billy, beside him at all times. In the eight years he has had Billy, Maaske has trained the dog to guard him when he is having a seizure and revive him by licking his face.

So he doesn’t appreciate it when he is barred from bringing Billy into stores, hospitals, restaurants or buses.

“It infuriates me,” said Maaske, 49, of the Pico-Robertson area, who says his income consists exclusively of Social Security disability insurance. “People don’t understand the law.”

Indeed, Maaske said he has had countless run-ins over his right to keep Billy on hand, and he has filed several lawsuits to prove that state and federal laws protect the disabled.

He sued Thrifty-Payless Drugstores in 1992 after a 1991 incident in which a manager of the Thrifty store at 8708 W. Pico Blvd. in West Los Angeles told Maaske that he had to leave his dog outside. The suit, filed in Santa Monica Superior Court, is scheduled for a hearing May 30, although attorneys for both sides are trying to negotiate a settlement.

Maaske was honored in 1988 by then-Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley with an award for his efforts on behalf of the rights of people using service animals.

The federal Americans With Disabilities Act allows people with disabilities to bring guide dogs, signal dogs and service dogs into places where dogs normally are not allowed. The law does not require them to prove that their dogs are service animals; however, they may be required to show proof of a disability. The dogs do not have to be licensed or certified.

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“We have a good policy on alerting our associates about service dogs if people identify them as such,” said Ben Cardozo, one of the attorneys for Thrifty. “The instructions to managers is to let these dogs into the store.”

This is Maaske’s second lawsuit against Thrifty. Maaske and Thrifty settled the first one, which involved a different store in West Los Angeles, but would not reveal the terms of the agreement. In that case, the dog was also barred from the store.

His most recent experiences have been at three local hospitals: Brotman Medical Center in Culver City, UCLA Medical Center and Century City Hospital.

Admitted in March to Brotman Medical Center for pneumonia, Maaske claims that he was discharged too early because he insisted on keeping Billy in his room. Hospital officials contend they gave Maaske the care he needed.

Several days after he left Brotman, Maaske went to UCLA Medical Center, complaining of paralysis in his arm. He was escorted from the emergency room by security guards after he refused to keep Billy outside patient areas. UCLA has since issued a statement saying that the medical center is revising its policies, allowing service animals into treatment areas as long as they “do not pose a risk to other patients or medical personnel.”

Maaske then sought treatment for his arm at Century City Hospital. There, he says, security guards demanded proof from him that Billy is a service dog.

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Officials at Century City said they have since informed their security personnel about the provision of the Americans With Disabilities Act relating to service dogs. They complained, however, that Maaske used foul language and was argumentative.

But Maaske says it’s about time people understood his rights. Without Billy, he said, he’d be lost: “I can ask him to do what I can’t ask a friend to do--watch me 24 hours a day.”