McCracken v. Sloan

The plaintiff in this case was a postal employee, and the defendant was the postmaster. The plaintiff had a documented medical history of being allergic to tobacco smoke. He complained about smoke at work. He requested and was denied sick leave for his condition. On two occasions, the plaintiff met with the defendant in the defendant's office to discuss plaintiff's request for sick leave. The defendant smoked a cigar at both of those meetings. In one meeting, the defendant said: "Bill, I know you claim to have an allergy to tobacco smoke and you have presented statements from your doctor stating this, but there is no law against smoking, so I'm going to smoke." The plaintiff filed a lawsuit alleging that the defendant committed a battery upon him by smoking cigars during these meetings. The trial court dismissed the plaintiff's claim, and the plaintiff appealed.