Phone Makers Not Liable
Chicago Sun Times
March 23, 1999
The U.S. Supreme Court let stand a lower court decision that shielded Motorola Inc. and other wireless phone makers from state law claims regarding the safety of cellular phones. The original suit, filed by Frank J. Schiffner, a one-time owner of a Motorola phone, charged that Motorola did not provide information about potential health risks from its phones and did not design the phones to maximize the distance between the antenna and the user’s head. The Food and Drug Administration has ruled that phone users are protected from radiation by federal regulations. The high court, without comment, rejected an appeal of a state court ruling.
