NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) – It’s Pat O’Brien’s, The Court of Two Sisters and 50 other businesses versus the City of New Orleans in a fight over cigarette smoking. In the latest round of this legal battle, lawyers for the plaintiffs asked for a preliminary injunction.

Lawyer Tom Cortazzo says, “If the court grants the preliminary injunction, that will restrain the city from enforcing the ordinance that we’re contending is invalid.”

The plaintiffs say the city neglected legal protocol regarding when the fiscal note was delivered to the council—and the ordinance itself is “too vague to be valid.”

The fiscal note details the economic impact the ordinance will have on the city; in this case, an estimated 3.6 million dollars could be lost in revenue and increased patrolling demands.

“They got it while they were debating. You can’t possibly sit down and read a document that’s many pages long with a lot of detailed financial data, digest that and understand it and then debate with that in mind. It’s too late at that point,” says Cortazzo.

The mayor’s office told WGNO, “Councilmembers received the fiscal note before they unanimously passed the ordinance. They also had the option to delay the vote if they wanted or needed more information and chose not to do so.”

Another hot topic is clarity regarding compliance, such as who must enforce the ordinance and in some cases what exactly is banned.

Cortazzo gave this example, “It defines electronic smoking device, and I think a lot of people know what that is. There are electronic cigarettes that have been in the news lately. The ordinance doesn’t define oral smoking device, so people who are tasked with the responsibility of enforcing the ordinance are gonna be puzzled.”

Harrah’s Casino is no longer part of this lawsuit. We reached out to them for comment but did not get a response. We hope to bring your more on that part of the story in the days ahead.