Atlantic City Casino Smoking Lawsuit Appealed to New Jersey Supreme Court

Posted on: September 7, 2024, 11:21h. 

Last updated on: September 13, 2024, 07:58h.

Devin O'Connor @CasinoorgDevinO Read More
Expertise: Asia Pacific Gaming, Commercial Gaming, Legislation, Politics.

Opponents of smoking inside Atlantic City casinos have appealed their case to the New Jersey Supreme Court.

Atlantic City casino smoking New Jersey
Bob Hafner, 56, of Long Beach Island, smokes a cigar at Tropicana Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City in January 2024. A legal challenge of the Atlantic City casino smoking law has been appealed to the New Jersey Supreme Court. (Image: The Philadelphia Inquirer)

Mercer County Judge Patrick Bartels last month dismissed a lawsuit against the state that alleged New Jersey’s 2006 Smoke-Free Air Act that provided carveouts for indoor smoking at casinos and parimutuel wagering facilities violates employees’ rights to a safe workplace.

The United Auto Workers, which represents table game dealers at Bally’s, Caesars, and Tropicana and was a lead plaintiff in the lawsuit, says it has appealed the matter to the state’s highest court. The plaintiffs additionally include a grassroots coalition of casino workers organized as Casino Employees Against Smoking Effects (CEASE).

“It is past time to allow casinos the exclusive right to poison their workers for claimed profits,” said attorney Nancy Erika Smith, who filed the appeal on behalf of the UAW and CEASE.

The appeal seeks “emergent relief,” or an expedited review of the matter since the lawsuit claims personal health and worker safety is involved.

Judge Finds Law Constitutional?

Bartels ruled against the UAW and CEASE after concluding that the state’s smoking law doesn’t prevent a worker from seeking employment elsewhere.

“The act places no parameters on a casino worker’s ability to seek work in a smoke-free environment,” Bartels wrote in his ruling. “It cannot be said that the New Jersey Legislature’s actions in providing exceptions to the Smoke-Free Air Act restricts the casino workers’ right to pursue safety under the New Jersey Constitution.”

Bartels said the plaintiffs’ claims that they have a state constitutional right to a workplace free of secondhand smoke “is not well-settled law.” Bartels said the odds are long that such a challenge would prevail in a higher court.

Attorneys defending the nine casinos in Atlantic City, which want to retain indoor smoking on claims that a smoking ban would cost revenue and jobs, argued that only the legislature can change the smoking law — not a judge.

Our elected officials struck what they believed was the most appropriate balance and have had the opportunity every year for 18 years since the act was passed to strike a different balance. If the Legislature changes its collective mind and decides to strike a different balance, then the law will change. If not, the law must stand, and plaintiffs’ complaint must be dismissed,” attorney Chris Porrino said on behalf the casinos.

Porrino added that the legislature’s justifications for including the casino smoking loopholes were understandable.

“The simple facts are that many people who gamble like to smoke. If the smoking exemption is stricken, jobs will be lost and employees will be out of work, medical, and other benefits,” Porrino said.

Odds Long

The Atlantic City casino smoking appeal faces long odds of being taken up in the New Jersey Supreme Court. The court in Trenton receives over 1,000 petitions each year but accepts only about 100 cases.

To be accepted, the petition must convince the court that the appellate judges made a legal error in deciding the case,” the New Jersey Supreme Court website explains.

New Jersey’s latest Health Assessment in 2022 found that about 10% of the adult population smokes cigarettes. That’s down from 17% in 2012.