A nonsmoking customer of the Defendant’s Shell service station objected to a designated smoking in the immediate area surrounding and including the cashier’s position, alleging that it violates the Illinois Clean Air Act which provides that “when a public place is a single room or enclosure, a person establishing such area may satisfy the purpose and provisions of this Act by establishing a reasonable portion of the room or enclosure as a smoking area.” (Emphasis added.)  After complaining about the smoking at the Shell station, the owner ordered her not to do any more business with him.  The Court issued an injunction enjoining the defendant “from designating the cashier’s area of its business together with a reasonable area to allow ingress and egress to said cash register position as a smoking area.”  The Court described the action of Ron’s Shell Service Center as “a blatant violation of the Act in that it forces the nonsmoking public to enter and stay in the designated smoking area in order to pay for the products purchased.  This Court cannot imagine a more direct violation of this Act than the present circumstances.”  The Court also assessed $172 in taxable costs against the Defendant.

Circuit Court, Third Judicial Circuit, Madison County (IL), No. 93-L-632 (1995).