A tenant claimed that excessive cigarette smoke had been entering his apartment and that the landlord had not made the repairs necessary to keep the apartment in a fir and habitable condition.  Based on a magistrate’s recommendation, the trial court ordered the landlord to correct the problem within 21 days, granted the tenant a 50 percent rent abatement and ordered the landlord to pay the tenant $639.  The landlord appealed.  The Court of Appeals of Ohio, Sixth Appellate District, affirmed the trial court’s judgment, noting that “the trial judge is best able to view the witnesses and observe their demeanor, gestures and voice inflections.”

200 Ohio 4366; 2004 Ohio App. LEXIS 3972