ZTE Seeks to ‘Join In’ co-Defendants’ Dismissal Motion in RF Radiation Case

ZTE filed a motion Tuesday to “conditionally join in” and adopt the motion filed Oct. 17 by its co-defendants to dismiss the April 2021 complaint alleging that the cellphone industry has worked to conceal and suppress information showing that many handsets don’t comply with the FCC’s specific absorption rate limitations for how much RF radiation is absorbed by phone users. The widow and two sons of Frank Walker allege that this led to his death from brain cancer (see 2210240060). The law set forth by the co-defendants “applies equally” to ZTE, and so “is also entitled to dismissal on the basis of preemption” if its own motion to dismiss is not granted, said Tuesday's motion (docket 2:21-cv-00923) in U.S. District Court for Western Louisiana in Lake Charles. The co-defendants’ motion to dismiss “is based on failure to state a claim,” said ZTE. The “doctrine of preemption” that’s the backbone of the Oct. 17 dismissal motion “is a fundamental Constitutional principle setting forth that federal law preempts claims made under state law,” it said. The legal allegations made against ZTE, which are state law claims, “implicate all the same legal issues as those raised” in the co-defendants’ motion to dismiss, it said. U.S. District Judge James Cain in an electronic order postponed to Nov. 3 a telephonic status conference he previously scheduled for Tuesday afternoon. A scheduling conflict necessitated the change, his order said.