Ohio Court Rules Anti-Smoking Enforcement Unlawful

From Buckeye Institute:

COLUMBUS - An Appeals Court ruled Friday in favor of the Pour House, a Toledo tavern represented by the 1851 Center for Constitutional Law, in a case challenging the enforcement of the Ohio smoking ban. The ruling of the Court of Appeals for the Tenth District of. Ohio concludes that "a proprietor violates [the smoking ban] only when the proprietor permits smoking."

The 1851 Center argued that the Ohio Department of Health had been ignoring the plain language of the smoking ban statute, and indiscriminately citing Ohio's tavern owners, without first investigating whether the taverns had taken steps required of them by the law. The Department of Health had maintained that any business in Ohio was liable for fines of up to $5,000 once someone began to smoke on its property, irrespective of what steps the business had taken to enforce the ban.

The Tenth District's decision clarifies the matter, indicating that taverns are not liable when they take steps to stop smoking, such as posting no-smoking signs and informing smoking patrons of the ban.

Heh.