LOS ANGELES : L.A. Appeals Revival of Smoking Ban Challenge

The Los Angeles city attorney Monday appealed to the state Court of Appeal a judge’s ruling reviving a tobacco industry-sponsored effort to force Los Angeles to put its restaurant smoking ban on the ballot.

In the meantime, the city clerk’s office began checking hundreds of signatures that had been thrown out because of a requirement that the petition circulators be registered to vote in Los Angeles. Superior Court Judge Robert H. O’Brien last week struck down the requirement as unconstitutional.

City lawyers are due back in court Thursday to report whether opponents of the smoking ban have enough signatures on a sampling of petitions to require counting the balance of 97,572 signatures. To qualify for the ballot, 58,275 signatures of registered city voters are required.