Cigarette smoke sparks California lawsuit

A couple in California is suing their next-door neighbors, alleging that wafts of second-hand smoke coming from the neighbors' yard has infringed upon their personal freedoms.

The couple, Donna and Richard Ganguet of El Dorado Hills, California, lives in a gated community for people who are 55 years old or older. In the lawsuit filed last week, the Ganguets claimed that cigar and cigarette smoke frequently drifts into their property from the yard of neighbor Florence Solone, the Sacramento Bee reports.

The claimants' lawyer, David Trapani, told the news source Solone and her family "has a right to smoke, but that right ends when it impacts someone else's property."

Doug Smith, Florence Solone's attorney, called the issue "trivial" and said that the dispute should be resolved through conversation, not in an El Dorado Superior Court lawsuit.

Hoping to avoid confrontation, the Ganguets say that they were unable to contact their neighbors by telephone or letter. The news provider said the couple considered selling their house rather than filing a law suit, but believed the neighbors' smoke would inhibit a sale.

According to California's Public Health Institutes, 87 percent of California residents are nonsmokers.