Casino Employee Wins $4.5 Million From Tropicana Casino In Secondhand Smoke LawSuit

A former table-games supervisor at the Tropicana Casino in Atlantic City, has just agreed to accept a 4.5 million settlement from his former employer for the secondhand smoke lawsuit he filed in 2006.
Non-smoking Vince Rennich, 52, had worked for the Tropicana Casino for 25 years when he inadvertently learned he had developed lung cancer while hospitalized after a car accident in 2005.
Rennich needed a third of his right lung removed that year and then became one of Atlantic City’s most ardent campaigners to have smoking banned from its 11 casinos. He vey nearly succeeded but the recession caused the city to relent for fear of losing more customers and has subsequently agreed to limit smoking to 25% of the casino floor instead.
Vince Rennich now hopes that his victory against the Tropicana Casino will help highlight the plight of other affected casino employees, as well as ensuring Atlantic City’s casinos are subjected to the same smoking ban applied to all other public buildings.
Commenting on his successful lawsuit against his former employer, Rennich said:
“I wanted to have smoking stopped in the casinos; that was my goal. It was never about money..I hope every Atlantic City casino worker can celebrate a little bit in this because it’s for them.”
Vince Rennich currently works in Delaware at a smoke-free casino called Dover Downs, where he says patrons are happy to gamble in a clean air atmosphere. Although the $4.5 million settlement has now made him independently wealthy, he says he enjoys working there and has no intentions of retiring just yet.
In the meantime, anti-smoking groups are warning casinos to take heed of the result of Rennich’s case, with chairwoman of Smoke-Free Gaming of America, Stephanie Steinberg commenting:
“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.”