Cell-phone cancer suit tossed

WASHINGTON-Lawyers for Christopher Newman said they will challenge the likely dismissal of an $800 million brain-cancer lawsuit against the mobile-phone industry, but the appeal and other pending health litigation that once threatened to bring down wireless carriers and manufacturers now appear to have little chance of success.

In the decisive, 22-page ruling last Monday, a Baltimore federal judge blocked the Newman lawsuit from going to trial by resoundingly rejecting the plaintiff's expert scientific testimony. Newman, a 43-year-old neurologist, claimed in a lawsuit two years ago that cell-phone use caused his brain cancer.

Industry lawyers will file a motion with U.S. District Judge Catherine Blake to dismiss the Newman lawsuit, which she is expected to do. Then, Newman can seek an appeal at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Richmond, Va. The Fourth Circuit has a reputation as one of the most conservative federal appeals courts in the land.

Blake said Newman, represented by the law firm of noted trial lawyer and Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos, failed to bring forth "sufficiently reliable and relevant scientific evidence in support of either general or specific causation" linking mobile-phone use to brain cancer.

"Because of the national and international scientific interest in radio-frequency radiation, there is a substantial body of literature to consult in order to determine whether the plaintiffs' theory and technique of demonstrating cancer causation has attained general acceptance in the scientific community. The short answer is that no such general acceptance has been shown," stated Blake.

"The decision was a significant one," said Norman Sandler, a spokesman for Motorola Inc., the lead defendant in the Newman case. Sandler said Motorola believes the ruling sends a strong message to lawyers with considerable resources who searched far and wide for experts and came up short.

The Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association said the Sept. 30 decision "is consistent with the overall judgment of the international scientific community that the use of the mobile phones does not play any role in brain cancer or any other know health diseases."

The Food and Drug Administration and government agencies overseas say available scientific data does not link cell-phone use to health problems, but they added that additional research is needed before mobile phones can be guaranteed completely safe for consumers.

"Dr. Newman is disappointed he won't get his day in court," said John Angelos, one of Newman's lawyers.

Most health research on mobile phones is being conducted outside the United States. Legislation expected to be introduced shortly by Vermont lawmakers will call for federally funded wireless health research. Some studies have found DNA breaks, genetic damage and other biological effects from low-level radio-frequency radiation. But industry calls the studies of limited value because they have not been replicated.

"The history of radio-frequency bioeffects research has been that funding is rarely forthcoming for replication of the studies that have indicated adverse health effects. Very little funding comes from sources other than the wireless industry," said Janet Newton, president of the EMR Network in Vermont.

As a legal matter, it was a complete victory for industry. Not only does Blake's ruling doom the Newman case, it effectively knocks out expert witnesses-like Sweden oncologist Lennart Hardell, and the University of Washington's Henry Lai-from being used by plaintiffs in nine other brain-cancer suits in Blake's court.

Joanne Suder, a Baltimore lawyer who originally filed the Newman lawsuit and now is pressing six brain-cancer cases in Blake's court, said last week's ruling is not necessarily the last word in the controversy.

"This decision is a tragedy for Dr. Newman; however, it is not binding on the remaining large number of brain-cancer victims. In our judgment, we have enough solid scientific evidence to establish a link between cell-phone use and brain cancer," said Suder.

Suder said Blake's ruling echoed early tobacco and asbestos lawsuits that failed because of a lack of generally accepted science on causation.

On Nov. 1, Blake is scheduled to oversee oral argument on an industry motion to dismiss a several class-action lawsuits that seek to require the mobile-phone industry to supply consumers with headsets to reduce injury from radiation.

U.S. District Judge Catherine Blake