A non-smoker who was a guest on a live radio show had cigar smoke blown in his face.  He alleges that the act was done deliberately to cause him “physical discomfort, humiliation or distress”, violated his right to privacy, constituted battery and violated a Cincinnati Board of Health regulation.  The trial court dismissed all of the Plaintiff’s claims.  On January 26, 1994, the Court of Appeals, First Appellate District of Ohio, (No. C-920922) reinstated the battery claim and affirmed the dismissal of the invasion of privacy and the health regulation claims.  The court ruled that, as alleged in the complaint, “when Furman [one of the defendants] intentionally blew cigar smoke in Leichtman’s face, under Ohio common law, he committed a battery.”  The case has been settled for an undisclosed sum.  See “Court Reinstates Suit over Smoking Assault,” Columbus Dispatch, January 30, 1994, 3C; “Ohio Court Rules Tobacco Smoke Can Be Used to Commit Battery,” Houston Post, January 30, 1994, A-19; “Cigar Smoke As Weapon,” National Law Journal, February 14, 1994, 6; and Budisk, A., “Protecting Your Nonsmoking Rights, The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) July 17, 1994, 3I.

634 N.E.2d 697, 46 ALR5th 939, 92 Ohio App.3d 232, 9.1 TPLR 2.17 (1994).