TOBACCO CONTROL LAWS

Grusendorf v. City of Oklahoma City, et al.

The plaintiff, a recently accepted firefighter trainee applicant with the Oklahoma City Fire Department (Department), was fired from his position after the Department discovered that he had taken roughly three puffs of a cigarette during his lunch break, despite signing a pre-employment agreement that he would not smoke a cigarette on or off duty for a period of one year. The plaintiff challenged his dismissal, claiming that it had violated his rights of liberty, privacy, property and due process protected under the Constitution. The district court for the Western District of Oklahoma dismissed the case. On appeal, the plaintiff maintained that his liberty and privacy rights included the right to smoke. The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit found that the rule did concern a fundamental liberty interest but that Oklahoma City had an interest in regulating the behavior of their employees and that the interest was strong enough to justify rational restrictions on the firefighter trainee's rights.

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Grusendorf v. City of Oklahoma City, et al., 816 F.2d 539, United States Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit (1987).

  • United States
  • Apr 17, 1987
  • United States Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit

Parties

Plaintiff Greg Grusendorf

Defendant

  • City of Oklahoma City, a municipal corporation
  • Jimmy R. Catledge, Fire Chief, City of Oklahoma City
  • John D. Parasich, Assistant Training Officer, City of Oklahoma City
  • Paul Benson, Assistant Fire Chief, City of Oklahoma City

Legislation Cited

Related Documents

None

Type of Litigation

Challenge to Government Policies Relating to Tobacco Control/Public Health
Tobacco companies or front groups may challenge any legislative or regulatory measure that affects their business interests. Unlike public interest litigation, these cases seek to weaken health measures. These cases frequently involve the industry proceeding against the government. For example, a group of restaurant owners challenging a smoke free law as unconstitutional.

Tobacco Control Topics

Smoke Free Measures
Measures to reduce or eliminate exposure to tobacco smoke. (See FCTC Art. 8)

Substantive Issues

Right to Procedural Due Process
A violation of the right to procedural fairness. For example, a party may claim that a government agency did not consult with public or stakeholders when issuing regulations.
Right to Property
A violation of property rights, sometimes in the form of an expropriation or a taking by the government. The tobacco industry may argue that regulations amount to a taking of property rights because they prevent the use of intellectual property such as trademarks.
Right to Self-Determination
Smokers’ rights groups may claim that governments interfere with consumers’ freedom of choice when they regulate tobacco use.
"Right to Smoke"
The tobacco companies and some individual plaintiffs argue that there is a right to smoke.
Right to Privacy
This is the right to a private personal and family life without intrusion from the government.
Tobacco Control Law Violation
A claim of a violation of a tobacco control law or statute.
Procedural Defect
The court might consider procedural matters without touching the merits of the case. These might include: improper joinder, when third parties, such as Health NGOs or government officials, seek to become parties to the suit; lack of standing, where a plaintiff fails to meet the minimum requirements to bring suit; lack of personal jurisdiction, where the court does not have jurisdiction to rule over the defendant; or lack of subject matter jurisdiction, where the court does not have jurisdiction over the issue at suit.

Type of Tobacco Product

None

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