TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A Taichung court ordered a man to pay NT$40,000 (US$1,236) in compensatory damages for allowing his cigarette smoke to waft up to his upstairs neighbors.

A husband and wife surnamed Chiang (江) live on the eighth and ninth floors of an apartment building in Taichung City. When they moved into the apartment, they soon noticed that acrid cigarette smoke was billowing up from their balcony, Liberty Times reported.

They soon discovered that their downstairs neighbor, a man surnamed Lo (羅), was regularly smoking on his balcony. The couple said that they began to suffer the effects of second-hand smoke and bought an air purifier to filter out the pollution.

The couple were particularly concerned as the wife was pregnant with the couple's child and argued that the second-hand smoke had seriously endangered the health of their unborn child and their mental well-being. In June 2020, Luo ignored their request to stop smoking on his porch.

In February and January of this year, Lo also ignored requests by the chairman and director general of the community management committee to cease smoking. Claiming that Lo's constant smoking inflicted harm on their quality of living, as well as their mental and physical health, the couple filed a lawsuit against Lo demanding NT$100,000 in compensation.

Lo replied that he sometimes smokes on the balcony of his apartment, but it is his right to do so as it is his private space and the community regulations do not explicitly prohibit smoking on the balcony. He also argued that the couple would often claim they smelled smoke when he was not at home, and therefore it was not necessarily caused by him.

The Taichung District Court stated that surveillance camera footage showed Lo smoking. At the same time, the couple's air purifier would show air pollution PM2.5 values rising from 20 to over 59.

The judge ruled that Lo's smoking and the resulting pollution that drifted into Chiang's residence indeed had a serious impact on their living environment. He emphasized that when the interests of "people's long-term living environment and health rights" come into conflict with a "person's freedom to smoke in their residence," even if there is no smoking ban in the community, the interests of the latter take precedence over the interests of the latter.

Accordingly, the judge ruled that Lo should compensate Chiang and his wife NT$20,000 each. In addition, the judge stated that Lo is barred from continuing to smoke in his residence, including the balcony.

However, Lo can appeal the court's decision.