Makers Of Cell Phones
Hit With Class-Action Suits
CNN
April 19, 2001
Class-action suits have been filed in four states requiring all major manufacturers of mobile phones to supply head sets free of charge to each purchaser or lessee, or to reimburse any consumer who has purchased a headset, an attorney told CNN Thursday.
Class-action lawyer Peter Angelos said the suits make three principal allegations about radio transmissions from handsets:
• They cause biological changes with a potential for resulting in adverse health effects;
• Industry has known for many years that the biological changes caused by Radio Frequency Radiation (RF) could be significantly reduced or eliminated through the use of headsets;
• Industry nevertheless mass-marketed wireless hand-held telephones without the protection provided by a headset and without informing the public of the potential risk involved. Aegis Note: Click here to learn why headsets do not offer protection.
The lawsuits allege conspiracy, fraud and negligence on the part of major manufacturers. In addition to the headsets, the suits ask for unspecified punitive damages and unspecified costs, attorney fees and legal pre-judgment interest.
Significantly, the suits do not explicitly claim a connection between the use of cell phones and the promotion of or acceleration of brain tumors. Earlier suits that tried to tie the technology to the specific disease failed in court.
The suits were filed in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City; Court of Common Pleas for Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania; the Circuit Court for Middlesex County, New Jersey; and the Supreme Court for Bronx County, New York.
The named defendants are a who's who of the mobile phone hardware and service business, including Motorola, Sprint, Audiovox, Nextel, Matsushita, Philips, Qualcomm, Samsung, Sanyo, Sony, AT&T, Verizon, Cingular, SBC, Cellular One, and Voicestream.