WASHINGTON-The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has rejected the mobile-phone industry’s request to stay last month’s decision remanding class-action headset lawsuits to state courts, forcing cellular firms to seek a review by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The court ruling is the latest in a series of legal setbacks for the cell-hone companies in headset litigation and for industry’s federal pre-emption argument particularly.
The full 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently turned back industry’s motion to rehear arguments in five class-action headset lawsuits that a divided three-judge panel remanded to four state courts and a federal court on March 16.
Plaintiffs contend cellular companies have long known about health uncertainties connected with mobile-phone use and thus should have supplied consumers from the start with headsets to reduce their exposure to handset radiation. The plaintiffs want industry to supply wireless subscribers with headsets and to compensate those who already have purchased them. In addition, the plaintiffs are seeking punitive damages.
As a result of the new 4th Circuit ruling, four headset lawsuits will return to state courts in Maryland, New York, Georgia and Pennsylvania for further litigation. The fifth case will be sent back to U.S. District Court in Baltimore.
Former independent counsel Kenneth Starr is heading industry’s defense team in the headset litigation.
U.S. District Judge Catherine Blake of Baltimore dismissed the five class-action suits in March 2003 after determining the actions were pre-empted by federal law. The plaintiffs, led by attorneys at the law firm of trial lawyer and Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos, appealed the ruling to the 4th Circuit in Richmond, Va.
The cellular industry says scientists have failed to find a definitive link between cell phones and cancer. Government and industry officials are working on a new standard based on a different calculation for determining safe levels of mobile-phone radiation.
On a related front, the cellular industry is awaiting a decision by the Superior Court for the District of Columbia on its motion to throw out six brain-cancer suits on federal pre-emption grounds.
