$4.5 Million Award for Second-Hand Smoke Work Injury

A lawsuit filed against the Tropicana Casino and Resort in Atlantic City, by a former casino employee that alleged his lung cancer was due to 25 years of inhaling second-hand smoke, ended in a $4.5 million settlement, as reported by the Associated Press.

Vince Rennich, of Somers Point, filed the lawsuit because he "wanted to have smoking stopped in the casinos; that was my goal.  It was never about money."

During the time of the lawsuit's filing, a campaign to rid smoking from Atlantic City gaming facilities was unsuccessful.

Dover Downs, a casino in Delaware where smoking is banned, has since hired Rennich.  Of his new job Rennich stated, "I've been there six months and it's a pleasure.  A lot of the guys from Atlantic City came down there to work because they couldn't stand the smoke."

Rennich's lawsuit was settled in September.  The Tropicana has not commented, but has noted that the suit - filed in 2006 - was prior to when the new casino owners took over.

Rennich, 52, was unaware of his lung cancer until he was injured in a 2005 car accident.  By September of the same year he had a third of his right lung removed.

He has claimed to have never, in his life, smoked a cigarette.

In 2007 and 2008 Rennich was a proponent in getting Atlantic City to ban smoking in its casinos.  But, when the economy took a downturn, casinos grew concerned about losing further business to other states - that allowed their customers the freedom to smoke - if they were to enact a smoking ban.

It was at that time that the casinos restricted smoking to 25 percent of their gaming rooms as opposed to the 100 percent gamers had two years prior.

The executive director for an anti-smoking group, Global Advisors on Smokefree Policy, Karen Blumenfeld, said, "This settlement is the least they can do, having put his life at risk and created this extremely hazardous condition that led to his lung cancer.  It's a long time coming."

Casinos have an exemption from Atlantic City's law that employs a smoking ban on all other public building interiors.

Claridge Casino Hotel awarded $150,000 in a worker's compensation claim to employee Kam Wong, a dealer in the hotel for 10 years, as she contracted lung cancer due to second-hand smoke inhalation.

Stephanie Steinberg, the chairwoman for Smoke-Free Gaming of America commented, "The gaming industry has knowingly harmed the health of their employees and patrons.  They tell their employees the air is safe and the ventilation is sufficient. And yet, their employees are sick and dying from the toxic, smoke-filled air. The casinos are going to be held accountable and it's going to cost them."

Rennich, plainly happy to be working in a smoke-free environment said, "I like what I'm doing down there.  My goal was always to work in a smoke-free casino, and that's finally what I'm doing. Right now I'm pretty happy with my life. I'm happy just to be alive, actually."

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