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Where There's Smoke, There's a Lawyer.
ABC News ^ | April 4, 2008 | John Stossel

Posted on 04/06/2008 7:20:30 PM PDT by lastchance

Do you smoke? Well, you better be careful where. I don't smoke, and I don't like the smell, but what some people are doing to smokers makes me say give me a break.

For the last 12 years, Galila Huff has owned Caffé la Fenicé, a restaurant serving Italian food on the Upper West Side of New York City.

Smoking there is forbidden. New York state bans it in all restaurants and bars.

Huff's apartment is a few blocks away at The Ansonia, an ornate turn-of-the-century building that both Babe Ruth and Arturo Toscanini once called home.

Huff lives there alone except for her Chihuahua, and her cigarettes. For 40 years, she's smoked a pack or two a day.

But then in October, she got a letter from her neighbors. It said, "Dear Resident, immediately cease smoking in your apartment, unless and until you take adequate steps to properly ventilate your smoke out of your apartment such that none enters the common hallway."

Huff couldn't believe it. First she can't smoke in her own restaurant, now she can't smoke in her own apartment?

"I mean the cigarettes smell, yeah. But I'm not puffing into their faces," she said.

The complainants -- Jonathan and Jenny Selbin -- wouldn't agree to a television interview, but they did file a lawsuit against Huff, saying she is "willfully, intentionally, recklessly and/or negligently endangering the health of plaintiffs and their 4-year-old son. & As evidenced by her refusal to address the grave danger posed to the health of a small child, despite repeated requests and warnings, defendant's conduct is actuated by evil and/or reprehensible motives."

(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: antismoking; lawsuit; lawsuits; pufflist; stossel
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1 posted on 04/06/2008 7:20:30 PM PDT by lastchance
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To: lastchance

If I were the defendant, I would keep smoking and start a few kimchi cultures to boil every day.


2 posted on 04/06/2008 7:22:53 PM PDT by elkfersupper
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To: lastchance

I think I’m headed to the Philippines: You all enjoy life here in Socialist Utopia. And no, I don’t smoke.


3 posted on 04/06/2008 7:23:41 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (Knowledge for Battle!)
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To: SheLion; Gabz

Ping.


4 posted on 04/06/2008 7:24:41 PM PDT by RandallFlagg (Satisfaction was my sin)
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To: lastchance

I believe this entire movement of...

I’m empowered

My cause is....

started back in the 1980’s.

Now gradeschool kids (mostly female types) feel unfulfilled unless they also have a CAUSE be it global angst or the goodie two shoes Palis or Lets exterminate Joooos.


5 posted on 04/06/2008 7:26:12 PM PDT by Rembrandt (We would have won Viet Nam w/o Dim interference.)
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To: Eric Blair 2084

Ping.


6 posted on 04/06/2008 7:31:37 PM PDT by Army Air Corps (Four fried chickens and a coke)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Angeles or Olongapo?

/s


7 posted on 04/06/2008 7:33:42 PM PDT by A_Former_Democrat
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To: Rembrandt

“actuated by evil and reprehensible motives”
Now you gotta admit that’s funny.


8 posted on 04/06/2008 7:34:59 PM PDT by BIV (a republican is not properly called republic; a democrat is not properly called democratic)
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To: lastchance; Just another Joe; CSM; lockjaw02; Publius6961; elkfersupper; nopardons; metesky; ...

Nanny stte Ping.........

I’ll check back in the morning because I’m expecting thre will be several posters supporting this nonsense.


9 posted on 04/06/2008 7:35:18 PM PDT by Gabz (Don't tell my mom I'm a lobbyist, she thinks I'm a piano player in a whorehouse)
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To: lastchance

More proof that 99% of lawyers give the rest a bad name.


10 posted on 04/06/2008 7:37:04 PM PDT by DuncanWaring (The Lord uses the good ones; the bad ones use the Lord.)
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To: Gabz

Most FR posters support gun rights for New Yorkers. That’d take care of this sort of garbage in a NY minute.


11 posted on 04/06/2008 7:38:00 PM PDT by muawiyah
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Enjoy the Phillipines, where Americans are kidnapped and kept as hostages.

I’ll take the U.S. anyday.


12 posted on 04/06/2008 7:39:13 PM PDT by Paved Paradise
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To: lastchance
I am all for banning smoking in public places, restaurants especially, but preventing people from doing it in their own homes goes way over the top.
13 posted on 04/06/2008 7:40:43 PM PDT by infantrywhooah (Hold your nose and vote in November. Even McCain is better than the alternatives)
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To: lastchance
When asked whether it's true that her dog urinated on her neighbor's property, Huff said, "I never saw that, but maybe. I don't know." The dog had no comment.

Smart dog.

14 posted on 04/06/2008 7:40:57 PM PDT by Graybeard58
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To: lastchance

How about people who fart in elevators? Her neighbors should make sure to have an extra Taco Bell bean burrito before unleashing some methane gas on the elevator on their way to the courtroom for this frivolous claim that clogs up the docket.

She has such a sensitive nose. Call your Congresscritter and get them to ban farting.


15 posted on 04/06/2008 7:41:32 PM PDT by Eric Blair 2084 (Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms shouldn't be a federal agency...it should be a convenience store.)
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To: muawiyah

While what you say is true in regard to gun rights, there are far too many that will disagree with you in taking care of this particular issue.


16 posted on 04/06/2008 7:42:34 PM PDT by Gabz (Don't tell my mom I'm a lobbyist, she thinks I'm a piano player in a whorehouse)
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To: lastchance

More guns, less lawyers.


17 posted on 04/06/2008 7:42:55 PM PDT by Leisler
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To: lastchance

Time to find the stinkiest incense and light it up for all
in the apartment complex to enjoy.


18 posted on 04/06/2008 7:43:51 PM PDT by taxesareforever (Never forget Matt Maupin)
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To: infantrywhooah

Restaurants are private property - you are not required to enter, and you can be required to leave at the owner’s request.


19 posted on 04/06/2008 7:45:24 PM PDT by Gabz (Don't tell my mom I'm a lobbyist, she thinks I'm a piano player in a whorehouse)
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To: infantrywhooah
I am all for banning smoking in public places, restaurants especially

Restaurants, while in public, are privately owned and it should be the decision of the owner whether to allow smoking, not the government's. Potential customers can decide whether they want to eat there or not.

20 posted on 04/06/2008 7:47:11 PM PDT by Graybeard58
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