German pensioner’s smoking did not disturb peace

Germany’s Federal Supreme Court has overturned a ruling that gave a landlady authority to evict a pensioner whose smoking was said to be offensive to neighbors, according to a BBC Online story.

The Supreme Court ruled that a Düsseldorf court that had backed the landlady’s complaint must now re-investigate the matter.

Friedhelm Adolfs, 76, had appealed against the lower court’s 2013 ruling.

He argued that his flat was not completely sealed and he could not help it if smoke seeped under the door to public areas.

The landlady had said that the pensioner, who has lived in the flat for 40 years, must go because the smoke from his flat was offensive to neighbours.

But the Supreme Court judge said she doubted the Düsseldorf court’s finding that the pensioner’s smoke was bad enough to have ‘disturbed domestic peace’ in the building.

German ZDF television said Adolfs had become a hero for many smokers in Germany. He was now known as Germany’s second most-famous smoker after former Chancellor Helmut Schmidt.