A mother appealed from a judgment entered by the Ashland County Court of Common Please, Domestic Relations Division, which had, inter alia, placed restrictions on the parties’ two children’s exposure to secondhand smoke. The Court of Appeals ruled that the trial court’s order that the wife “shall not smoke in the presence of the children, or otherwise expose them to second-hand smoke” is valid. The Court of Appeals noted that the Ohio Supreme Court has recognized that the “Surgeon General, as well as other health agencies has concluded that secondhand smoke impairs the respiratory health of thousands of young children.” The Court of Appeals concluded that “[u]pon review of the record, we are unpersuaded the trial court abused its discretion in crafting a provision to protect the parties’ children from secondhand smoke.” See “Appeals Court Says Magistrate Can Order Woman Not to Smoke Around Her Children,” Mansfield (OH) News Journal, August 26, 2005.
2005 Ohio 4343, 2005 Ohio App. LEXIS 3940 (Ct. App. Ohio, Fifth App. Dist., Ashland Cty., 2005).