A prisoner brought an action pursuant to the Federal Tort Claims Act, alleging negligent exposure to secondhand smoke while he was a prisoner at the Federal Correctional Institute at Allenwood, Pennsylvania.  The court granted the defendant’s motion for summary judgment, finding that, for the plaintiff’s visits to the pulmonary care unit, there “are no entries or notations in the medical records that Rosario ever complained of tobacco smoke or stated that tobacco smoke triggered his symptoms,” including of asthma.  Furthermore, the defendant had adopted a policy banning smoking inside all buildings.  Also, Rosario had been documented to have purchased 192 packs of tobacco products over a span of less than three years at the prison.  The court ruled that the plaintiff “fails to meet his burden with respect to establishing a breach” of a duty that was owed to him by a defendant.

2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 21663 (U.S.D.C., M.D. Penn.).