WASHINGTON—A former Motorola employee on 15 November filed a US$1.5 billion lawsuit against the mobile-phone industry, claiming cell-phone use caused his brain cancer.
In dollar terms, the suit ranks as the largest ever lodged against the industry. Various personal injury and class action lawsuits that allege cell phones promote brain tumors are pending against wireless carriers and manufacturers around the United States.
The latest lawsuit, filed on behalf of 34-year-old Michael Murray by high-profile trial lawyer Mayer Morganroth, was filed Thursday morning in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.
Morganroth, who has represented euthanasia advocate Dr. Jack Kevorkian and flamboyant auto entrepreneur John Delorean, is expected to file additional personal injury suits against the wireless industry in the coming weeks.
In addition, Morganroth and other lawyers plan to file a public interest suit against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for failing to protect the United States’ 123 million cellular subscribers from health risks allegedly posed by mobile-phone radiation.
Defendants named in the Murray suit include many of the nation’s leading wireless carriers and manufacturers, as well as the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association (CTIA) and Telecommunications Industry Association. For the first time in any health-related wireless litigation, plaintiffs have targeted the two major standards bodies—the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) and the American National Standards Institute (ANSI)—that are responsible for radiation safety guidelines governing wireless handsets.
