San Francisco sues bar for allowing smoking
07/14/99
The City of San Francisco filed suit Tuesday against Delaney's Bar, charging the proprietor with causing a public nuisance by allowing patrons to smoke on the premises.
The suit, the first filed in San Francisco under a 1998 California measure banning all smoking in bars and taverns, is aimed at enforcing the law and leveling the competitive playing field, City Attorney Louise Renne said.
"The legislature has made it clear that smoking in the workplace is over in California. Bars are no exception,'' Renne said in a statement announcing the suit.
Renne said many owners of nearby bars were beginning to complain that Delaney's was getting more patrons by allowing them to smoke -- an "unfair and illegal business practice'', in the language of the San Francisco suit.
Timothy Delaney, proprietor of the bar, had no comment Tuesday. Officials said he had been warned five times by health department officials. The suit seeks a court order to snuff out all cigarettes in the bar, as well as $2,500 in penalties for each violation.
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