Five more lawsuits were filed against cellphone industry this wee...

lawsuit in which neurologist Chris Newman contended there was link between his cellphone use and brain tumor. Jarrettsville, Md., resident Newman said his long-time cellphone use left him permanently disabled. First lawsuit in D.C. Superior Court was filed in Nov. by former Motorola technician Michael Murray, seeking $1.5 billion in damages based on allegations that cellphone use was cause of his brain cancer. Latest 5 lawsuits raise similar allegations that wireless phone use gave rise to brain cancer. Among defendants named in 5 separate complaints are Qualcomm, Nokia, Motorola, Panasonic, Verizon, Vodafone, Cingular, Comcast, Cellular One, IEEE, SBC, TIA, Bell Atlantic and CTIA, said Jeffrey Morganroth, whose law firm Morganroth & Morganroth is representing cellphone users in 5 separate suits. Mix of companies named in each complaint depends on cellphone carriers and equipment that each caller used, Morganroth said. Baltimore-based Suder Law Firm also is representing clients in suits. In each of 5 newest cases, “it’s pretty much the same operative facts and events, although slightly different injuries and different cellphone manufacturers,” Morganroth said. Each seeks compensatory and other damages, as well as $100 million in punitive damages, he told us. He said his firm also was looking into public interest suit that could be filed shortly in federal court in Washington. “It would be a lawsuit attempting to obtain standards and regulation by the U.S. government over the cellphone industry,” he said. “We don’t believe the industry is adequately regulated, whether it’s by the FCC or the FDA.” If decision in U.S. Dist. Court in Baltimore finds against cellphone industry, it could be helpful to pending D.C. cases, although it wouldn’t be binding, Morganroth said. In D.C. cases, he said, he would look to Baltimore trial on type of expert testimony that had been allowed. “We believe we have additional expert testimony and additional experts that they are not using,” he said. “We think we have an even stronger case in terms of that issue.” Motorola spokesman said Tues. he hadn’t seen latest set of suits in D.C. Superior Court, but to extent that they were similar to others, he said vast majority of those cases had been withdrawn or dismissed by courts. “I believe that that reflects the fact that the claims at the core of these cases are groundless,” he said. “The issue of possible health risks from mobile phones has been examined on numerous occasions by scientific experts and all have come to the consistent conclusion that there is no evidence of demonstrated risk.”