Judge Strikes Louisville Smoking Ban

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- As Churchill Downs goes, so goes Louisville, according to a circuit judge who struck down a citywide smoking ban citing an exemption for the famed horse track.

A Jefferson Circuit Judge ruled that because an exemption in the smoking ban crafted for Churchill Downs was unconstitutional, the entire law was illegal.

"Only after voting that Churchill Downs would keep its exemption did the Council pass the Smoke Free Law; the converse of this fact is that the Council would not have passed a Smoke Free Law devoid of said exemption," Judge Steven Ryan wrote.

The decision hinged on a previous court ruling, from November, that struck down the exemption allowing smoking in some parts of the historic racetrack.

The ruling means the city cannot cite smokers, restaurants or bars for allowing patrons to light up inside.

Calls to Mayor Jerry Abramson's office were not immediately returned.

E-mails sent to the a group of business owner called the Metro Louisville Hospitality Coalition, which sued to overturn the ban, were not immediately returned.

Louisville's metro council passed the ban to keep smoking out of all public places except for Churchill Downs and any tobacco manufacturer that conducts research and development for tobacco products on site.

The council exempted facilities regulated by the Kentucky Horse Racing Authority. The Metro Louisville Hospitality Coalition filed a lawsuit challenging Churchill Downs' exemption and asked that the ban be overturned as arbitrary and vague.

The smoking ban replaced a less-stringent ordinance that allowed smoking in bars and restaurants that receive less than 75 percent of their revenue from the sale of food.

Louisville is among several Kentucky cities to ban smoking in a state that has led the nation in the production of burley tobacco, an ingredient in cigarettes.