A nonsmoking father who has joint legal custody of his one-year-old son seeks sole custody based on the mother’s smoking in the presence of the child.  The father alleges that the infant has suffered from asthma and ear infections due to exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke. On March 15, 1994, the Court (Moriarty, J.) denied the father’s emergency motion for temporary change of custody.  The couple were divorced on November 2, 1994.  See Cobb, N., “Air Battle,” Boston Globe, February 8, 1994, 1, 16; and “Smoking Mom is Focus in Dad’s Battle for Son,” The Enterprise (Brockton, MA) February 8, 1994, 1, 8; and LaLonde, B., “Dad Fights Smoker for Custody; Boy Has Asthma Because of Mom’s Habit, Man Argues,” Columbus Dispatch, February 11, 1994, 2C.

Docket No. 93D-0954 (Suffolk County (MA) Division of Probate & Family Court, 1994).