the litigation has taken a long and torturous route .
click to enlarge courtesy of david roland the duffners lawn , photographed last summer , is lush .
a federal judge in st. louis ruled yesterday that carl and janice duffner can be forced to plant turf grass in their yard — even though janice duffner has severe grass allergies .
in may 2014 , the duffners got a letter from the city saying their yard was not in compliance .
after the duffners filed in state court , an adverse ruling sent them to appeals court , where they earned a partial victory .
however , it did n't give them a free pass ; it still required them to plant at least five percent turf grass .
click to enlarge courtesy of david roland carl and janice duffner .
the couple applied for a variance , and in july 2014 , they were granted one .
but the ruling sent the case back to the lower court .