A nonsmoking patron sued a restaurant owner for allegedly violating the Unruh Civil Rights Act when, after he had complained to the city manager about the Defendant not having properly enforced a local ordinance that bans smoking in restaurants with bars during hours in which the restaurant is also open, the owner told him that he should go elsewhere and would no longer be served at her restaurant. The Superior Court, ContraCostaCounty, granted the Defendant’s motion for summary judgment, ruling that the Act did not protect the Plaintiff from discrimination based on his status as a nonsmoker, that the nonsmoking status was neither immediately apparent nor immutable, and that the nonsmoking status did not carry a negative connotation. Furthermore, the nonsmoker enjoys majority status.
2d 719, 42 Cal. App. 4th 678 (Cal. App. 1 Dist. 1996).