Opponents of Fargo smoking ban decide not to seek temporary order
FARGO, N.D. – A restaurant chain and some of its workers are scrapping plans to temporarily stop the city’s new smoking ban, saying they want to focus instead on their lawsuit against it.
Buffalo Wild Wings Grill and Bar, with two Fargo locations, and three of its employees, withdrew their petition in federal court Tuesday for a temporary restraining order.
The lawsuit was filed last Wednesday, two days before the ban took effect. Opponents claim the smoking ban ordinance approved by voters Nov. 2 is arbitrary and unconstitutional.
Under the ordinance, bartenders would work among smokers, while restaurant employees would be protected from second-hand smoke, the lawsuit says.
The plaintiffs’ attorney, Craig Campbell, said the lawsuit will be amended to focus on specific language in a North Dakota law adopted in 1919 that prohibits employers from exposing employees to heath risks on their jobs.
“We think it’s going to be important in the courtroom to squarely focus on this issue,” he said.
The law gives the state labor commissioner the authority to regulate smoking in the workplace – authority that would trump the city’s ordinance, City Attorney Garylle Stewart said.
But the labor commissioner has not taken a stand on the risks of second-hand smoke, nor has she banned smoking in the workplace, Stewart said.
“These are the things that lawsuits are made of,” he said. “It’s going to be interesting to see where this thing goes.”
The ordinance seeks to eliminate smoking in all public, indoor workplaces except truck stops and enclosed bars that restrict people under 21. It was approved by 57 percent of the Fargo voters.
http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/news/state/10263646.htm
