WASHINGTON- Major mobile-phone carriers and manufacturers last week petitioned U.S. District Judge Catherine Blake to reconsider her recent decision to have two health-related lawsuits sent back to state courts in California and Florida and a third lawsuit remanded to a federal court in Louisiana.
Industry lawyers cited new legal developments prompted by the addition of South Korean giant L.G. Electronics Mobilecomm U.S.A. Inc. as a defendant in health litigation.
Attorneys for Cingular Wireless L.L.C., Motorola Inc., Nokia Inc., Ericsson Inc. and other cellular companies filed the motion Feb. 22 in federal court in Baltimore. The lawyers informed Blake that two class-action headset lawsuits in Maryland and Pennsylvania were removed to federal court on Feb. 17, only two days after Blake decided to send remaining wireless health case to other courts.
“LG has removal rights under the Class Action Fairness Act because the litigation… `commenced’ after CAFA’s effective date,” wireless industry lawyers said. President Bush signed CAFA-tort reform legislation-into law on Feb. 18, 2005.
The cell-phone industry wants Blake to retain one brain-cancer lawsuit and three class-action lawsuits seeking to force mobile-phone carriers to supply consumers with headsets to minimize radiation from cell phones.
Blake’s court has been the primary venue for cell-phone health litigation in recent years. After her Feb. 15 decision to send back more cases to state courts, it appeared that might be coming to an end.
