The Supreme Court ruled in favor of a man who had sued Northwest Airlines for seating him and his wife and children next to the smoking section, allegedly causing his one-year-old daughter to suffer from exposure to second-hand smoke, officials of the John Tung Foundation (董氏基金會) said yesterday.
The court did not award the plaintiff, Wu Pei-ming (
The decision was the first in Taiwan relating to compensation over damage claims resulting from second-hand smoke.
Wu, his wife and their three children took a Northwest Airlines flight to the US in early 1998. They sat in seats adjoining the smoking section and had claimed that they suffered because of second-hand smoke. The crew allegedly refused to allow the family to change seats.
Wu's one-year-old daughter subsequently felt ill and suffered from bronchitis upon arriving in the US. Wu claimed that his daughter's health problem was directly related to the second-hand smoke.
Wu, helped by the John Tung Foundation, an anti-smoking non-profit organization, filed a lawsuit against Northwest in July of that year, asking for compensation of more than NT$10 million.
Lin Hsin-he, advisory lawyer to the John Tung Foundation, said that because the incident took place in a foreign aircraft while airborne, the domestic Tobacco Hazard Prevention Act did not apply.
The court found, however, that passengers have the right not to suffer from second-hand smoke, and concluded that the airlines did not provide proper service.
The claim that Wu's daughter's bronchitis was caused by the second-hand smoke could not be substantiated and compensation related to this was rejected by the court.
Wu said that after four years and over NT$400,000 in legal fees, he would respect the court's ruling. Although he said he was not surprised by the outcome, he said it was regrettable that the court did not compensate him for trying to protect his child.
"No matter how much compensation I could have received, it will never make up for the damage done to my daughter," Wu said.
He said that he took the case to court instead of trying to get a settlement from Northwest because it was justice he wanted, not money.
Lin Ching-li, director of the tobacco control section of the John Tung Foundation, said that with this ruling, the public should not be afraid to come forward and file a lawsuit if they suffer from second-hand smoke in places where smoking is not prohibited.
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