The mother of a 9-year-old child, Victoria, appealed a decision of the Warren County Common Please Court, Domestic Relations Division, awarding custody to the child’s great-grandmother. In April 2008, the child’s great-grandmother moved the court to modify a May 2007 agreed order to include, inter alia, an order prohibiting all parties from smoking cigarettes in the child’s presence. The Court of Appeals, 12th Appellate District of Ohio affirmed the judgment, ruling that the mother “has not shown that the trial court’s decision to restrict Victoria’s exposure to cigarette smoke was arbitrary, unconscionable, or unreasonable so as to constitute an abuse of its discretion.” The Court of Appeals also ruled that “[r]egardless of the condition of their health, secondhand smoke is considered a danger to all children,” and, therefore, it is not necessary to demonstrate that the child involved in the custody dispute has suffered physical harm before the court can order parties to refrain from smoking around the child. See Morse, J., “Court Bans Mom from Smoking Near Child,” Cincinnati Enquirer, November 8, 2009.
Anderson v. Anderson, 2009 Ohio 5636, 2009 Ohio App. LEXIS 4737, (Court of Appeals, 12th App. Dist., Warren County, 2009).
