Secondhand smoke lawsuit reinstated

This is terrific news. My landlord here in San Pedro (who is a national builder of individual residences as well as a landlord) refuses to do anything about secondhand smoke inundating the inside of my apartment. The tobacco smoke comes from tenants smoking inside and outside of their apartments. My apartment is an unhealthy environment. I had sinusitis requiring antibiotics 8 times last year. My sinus' are so impacted I now see an ENT. I'm now on nasal antihistamines & steroids. I may have developed allergies to smoke and need allergy shots for the next 10 years. Moreover, my internist is sending me for a colonoscopy & endoscopy to see if there is increased internal inflammation or cancer. This is costing me a fortune in medical bills and prescriptions. These are expensive apartments and I moved here two years ago expecting a quiet healthy apartment. I have neither. I should not be forced to move (which is expensive and time consuming) only to risk moving into a similar environment.

Geez. Another lawsuit to make a deep pocket pay for someone 'snowflake's' health issue. Does the commenter actually believe he has the right to outlaw smoking in someone's private residence? What next, outlawing perfume use or cleansers that you are sensitive to? Maybe you're sensitive to Thai cuisine - maybe you'd like to outlaw that? Or maybe peanuts or shellfish? Or, maybe have your landlord get rid of all the pollinating plants because you're allergic to bees?

Don't make your problem everyone else's problem.

Sue, there not talking about stopping smoking in someones private residence. there talking about the common area outside where normally all the kids play. Everybody in the apartment complex or similar have a right to clean air in there house as well as in the common area. Smoke all you want in you private residence with the yellow walls and all. Oh and I shouldn't have to close my door or window for you to smoke out there and throw your butts and such in the common area too.

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This is ground breaking news. I too live in apts in Woodland Hills. Cigarette smoke gets into my apartment and makes me very ill. I have asthma and am allergic to it. The fact that it cannot be stopped is unacceptable. I am happy to hear this news.

No, I don't think that we should ban perfume, cleansers, Thai food, shellfish or peanuts. But we should ban fumes and smoke that are proven to cause cancer.

I live in the South Bay on the beach, unfortunately our units balconies are directly across other units, they literally are so close. I get extreme sinus problems and migraines from smoke. Is there anything us tenants can do?

There are chem trails dropped by our government from the sky almost everyday which is proven to cause cancer and allergies. Why aren't you attorney sueing for that?. Lots of people getting sick all over the U.S.
Also second hand alcohol really does kill and does emite fumes. The citizens of Belmont Shore are up in arms because of all the drunks making noise. They should add that the alcohol fumes are also coming into their apartments and causing sickness.
In addition it has been proven that second hand fat can cause sickness. There have been many articles written on that subject too. Google it.

There are many things that a person can do now especially in California, the enlightened state. Cities have been adopting codes and ordinances that affect peoples' private residences for years now, like the ban against burning leaves and trash for instance due to the fact that it emits toxic particulates that permeate the residence of others, causing severe discomfort or illness. This will be the future for California soon. Cigarettes cannot be referred to as tobacco, because the tobacco leaves are soaked so heavily in solvents (very similar to what embalming fluid is made up of.) The constitutional rights that we have in our homes do not apply when a physical substance, such as second hand smoke trespasses into our yards and inside our homes or mulitfamily units, especially when it is so deadly. Smokers are not a protected class. When you compare your basic right to breath clean air next to someones right to indulge in a needless, unhealthy addiction, the right to breath wins.

Call your local fair housing for all of the details of what can be done. If the agent is unaware, ask to speak with the supervisor.

Please help me. I live in an apartment, and 10 feet away from me(on the opposite side) is another building. The people who live there are always smoking and the second hand smoke is unbearable.They wont stop even though we have exchanged words on many occasions.The two buildings run parralel with each other and like I said are about 10 feet apart. The people who are the smokers are the manager and his family.They also have two young children who are always exposed.I dont feel i should have to move. Can you help?

Hi Marc,

I am sorry that you have to go through this. I am very ill and am having to deal with the same problems in my townhome. As a disclaimer, I am NOT giving legal or medical advice.

I suggest that the first thing for you to do is to make an appointment with your Dr. and discuss the possibility that you could be allergic or have a condition like multiple chemical sensitivity. Then call Fair Housing and discuss the situation with them possibly for protection under the 'Americans with Disabilities Act' depending on what your Dr. says. They will direct you as to what you need to do.

Is the adjacent property owned or managed by the person that is smoking or is this separate? Also, call the City in which you live to find out if there are any codes or ordinances regarding second hand smoke as a nuisance and what your rights are. Fair Housing is the best place to start.

I find it so interesting how people comment about losing their rights in their homes....what about the rights of non-smokers in their homes? Do their rights matter? If the smoke stayed in the homes of smokers we would not be discussing this. How sad it is that the government has to regulate this because people do not have the decency to treat others with respect. Pathetic.

I have a similar problem with a neighbor who is renting the house next to mine and every time she smokes a cigarette at her backyard her second hand smoke invades my own backyard because my house is downwind of hers. Of course she has the right to smoke all she wants and kill herself whenever and in any way she may want, but the problem is she does not have any right to make me or any member of my family inhale her second hand smoke and harm our health, so by exercising her right in this case, she is depriving me of my own right to enjoy my property without being harmed by her smoking activity. Who's right should prevail in a courthouse?. I think the answer is very clear if any minimum whiff of justice still remains in this country.

The right to pure air is ancient. "At least since the time of the Assyrian king Hammurabi, a person has not been able [allowed] to use land [property] in a way that causes injury to another. See Mallett v. Taylor, 78 Or. 208, 213, 152 P. 873 (1915)," says Christianson v Snohomish Health District, 133 Wash 2d 647; 946 P2d 768 (13 Nov 1997).

Mallett v Taylor, 78 Or 208, 213; 152 P 873, 875 (16 Nov 1915), adds, "the law is practically the same to-day as it was in the year 2250 B.C.," and citing Robert F. Harper’s The Code of Hammurabi about 2250 B.C. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1904), §§ 53-54, and a then recent reiteration of the anti-nuisance legal doctrine, Fletcher v Rylands, LR 3 HL 330 (1866), among many others.

If smokers want to be left in peace, they should join us in ensuring that multi-unit housing is available, proportionate to market demand for both smokers who wish to smoke in their homes and peace as well as people who want or need smoke-free housing.

Moving "somewhere else" is not a solution for people seeking to escape their neighbours' smoke until there is a "somewhere else" to move to.

Additionally, if telling us to "move someplace else" to escape our neighbours' smoke is acceptable, then it is also acceptable to ban smoking and tell smokers - the people creating the problem - who don't like it to move.

Lawsuits like this will continue until everyone who wants or needs smoke-free housing has it. Two options exist: support smoke-free housing or get used to the lawsuits.

What smokers need to realize that smoking is NOT a right!

Smoking is a privilege. And like a obtaining a drivers license, if you abuse it and endanger the health and safety of others it can or will be taken away.

People with airway medical disorders have a RIGHT to breath clean air.

I am dealing with a similar issue in San Francisco, only I have neighbors who are smoking tobacco and marijuana. What they fail to realize that my medical condition trumps their need to smoke or vaporize this stuff. I am actually allergic to both of the plants as well as the smoke being an irritant. I really wish California wrote a better legal marijuana law rather than one that is open ended, allowing someone who can walk into any "doctors" office and get a card. I can almost guarantee about 70% people with those cards do not have a medically recognized disability with accordance to the ADA.

Also starting January 1st, 2012 a law goes into effect, signed by Jerry Brown, that allows landlords to ban smoking all together inside apartment units and outside. They can give a 30 days notice to tenants about the change in terms. This can now be a reason for eviction. So persuade your landlords now to get the ball rolling. There are great articles out there about second-hand smoke, third-hand smoke(very very scary stuff), and property damage that happens with smokers. Use this to show your landlord it will actually improve their property.