Source: http://citizensforsafetechnology.org/legal-actions-in-communities-governments,84,0
Timestamp: 2014-12-22 07:05:02
Document Index: 67631985

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 1', 'art 1', 'art 2', 'art 3', 'art 1', 'ART 2', 'ART 3', 'ART 4']

Legal Actions :: Citizens for Safe Technology
Legal ActionsHere you will find a growing number of legal proceedings currently filed, dealing with EMF and RF issues.LEGAL ACTIONS: INTRODUCTION to TOPIC Wi-Fi Action Kit Smart Meter Action Kit Cell Tower Action Kit Cell Phone Action Kit EHS & Health Action Kit	Looking for a specific topic or a past article? Search for it below: Nov 72014
Notice of Application to BC Hydro, November 2014
Certified Class Proceedings - Applicants: Nomi Davis (Residential) and Jessica Klein (Commercial)
Part 1: ORDERS SOUGHT
RESIDENTIAL CLASS DESCRIPTION SCHEDULE "B" COMMERCIAL CLASS DESCRIPTION SCHEDULE "C" COMMON ISSUES EmissionsRights claimedRights violatedGovernment authorization Contract Commercial Premises Remedy
SCHEDULE "D" PLAINTIFFS' PROPOSED LITIGATION PLAN Introduction Notice and op-out / opt-in Litigation relating to the common issuesCase Management and Interlocutory Applications JudgmentIndividual Issues Determination
SCHEDULE "A" to PLAINTIFFS' PROPOSED LITIGATION PLAN NOTICE TO BC HYDRO RESIDENTIAL CUSTOMERS CERTIFICATION OF BRITISH COLUMBIA CLASS ACTION REGARDING "SMART METERS" THE CLASS ACTION THE CERTIFICATION ORDER YOU MAY STILL OBJECT WHAT TO DO IF YOU MEET THE CLASS DEFINITION FEES ADDITIONAL INFORMATION INTERPRETATION NOTICE TO BC HYDRO COMMERCIAL CUSTOMERS CERTIFICATION OF BRITISH COLUMBIA CLASS ACTION REGARDING "SMART METERS" THE CLASS ACTION THE CERTIFICATION ORDER YOU MAY STILL OBJECT WHAT TO DO IF YOU MEET THE CLASS DEFINITION FEES ADDITIONAL INFORMATION INTERPRETATION Appendix
Download (pdf) ¦ Read On Sep 282014
"A Vodafone spokesman said that if any compensation claims were filed directly against the company itself, they would be 'vigorously' opposed...."
Download (pdf) ¦ Read On Sep 252014
LAUSD Gives Teacher Accommodation From Wi-Fi
Official letter from the Los Angeles Public School District's Division of Risk Management and Insurance Services
"The Los Angeles Public School District (LAUSD) has officially accommodated a teacher who is sensitive to WiFi. This is the first accommodation that I've seen, and LAUSD is the second largest public school district in the US. From the attached letter: "The Committee reconvened September 9, 2014. After reviewing and taking into consideration all of the documentation you submitted as part of your request, the information you presented during the meeting, and reviewing alternate accommodations, the Committee approved your request to have the Wi-Fi turned off in your classroom during the 2014-2015 school year. As an alternate accommodation, the Committee also approved a reassignment to a different school site where Wi-Fi has yet to be installed." "This is incredibly important. Demanding access to "wireless-free" zones is, by my way of thinking, one of the most important ways to fight the proliferation of wireless and, at the same time, educate an unsuspecting public. "In the US, the Common Core educational agenda (promoted, in part, by Bill Gates), has been accepted by almost all 50 states, and mandates computerized testing. The presumption within the schools is that this testing must be simultaneously taken by students using their wireless tablets. The language within Common Core does not specifically state that wireless must be used in all cases, but it does focus on the latest advancements in technology -- and so the presumption that all students must use and be tested on wireless tablets continues to grow. "Therefore I see this as one of the most important statements in the attached letter: "You also told the Committee the Common Core can be utilized on any PC and an iPad is not necessary." "This letter should be used around the world to support equal access in our increasingly wireless environments including schools, libraries, doctors' offices, hospitals, day care, fire stations and all county and state buildings. I believe the language in New York's accommodation laws might take the enclosed ruling and apply it absolutely."Susan Foster
Read On Sep 232014
CLASS ACTION PARTICIPATION FORM (Residential) Updated September 2013
Necessary to JOIN CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT against BC Hydro. Download, fill it in, and send it by Canada Post.
COMPLETE THIS FORM to join the BC HYDRO CLASS ACTIONPARTICIPATION FORM (Residential) to downloadRequired Participant Information:Full legal name______________________________________________Home address_______________________________________________	_______________________________________________Mailing address if different_________________________________E-mail address ____________________ phone number ____________BC Hydro account number, if you have one ____________Suggested contribution towards class action legal services (circle one):$10 $20 $30 $50 $100 OTHER: ______Additional donation for administration gratefully accepted $ _______Please make cheque payable to "Coalition to Stop Smart Meters"Date: ____________________________
Mail to: Coalition to Stop Smart Meters PO Box
52061 Beacon
Ave., RPO Sidney,
BC V8L 5V9
NB The PARTICIPATION FORM (downloadable below) is not an email form. We need your correspondence with us to be in writing. Please complete this Class Action Participation Form by printing out the form, filling in each section carefully, and mailing it to the address given at the bottom of the form, with your donation by cheque payable to "Coalition to Stop Smart Meters."ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AND LINKS:Participation Form for COMMERCIAL account holdersQ AND A regarding BC HYDRO SMART METER CLASS ACTIONNOTICE OF CIVIL CLAIM Original FEE ANNOUNCEMENT from BC HYDRO "mini" Class Action Participation Form (half-size)
Download (pdf) ¦ Read On Sep 152014
Legal & Public Health Problems of the Wireless Age
Public Citizen Consumer Law and Policy Blog - Guest Post by Deborah Kopald
FULL ARTICLE " The use of Wi-Fi and other wireless technologies has created problems. "An Open Letter to Phillips Exeter Academy about Wi-Fi", which I wrote to my alma mater, details the public health problem Wi-Fi has created and some legal ramifications of its use.
"Some people who lived too close to TV broadcast and radar towers developed symptoms of Microwave Sickness, a condition observed in military and industrial occupational settings during the Cold War. The next wave of microwave-emitting infrastructure, cell towers, lived up to the billing of their military and industry-owned cousins with subsequent studies (none were commissioned in the United States) showing elevated numbers of people within 1,500 feet experiencing symptoms of Microwave Sickness. . . " . . . The current proposal by the New York City Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications (DOITT) to turn 7,500 payphones in New York City and 2,500 additional locations into high-powered wireless hotspots would cause the city to engage in systemic violations of its own code. The New York City Human Rights Law offers reasonable accommodation to persons with many medical conditions including pregnant women (as of January, 2014). The American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) issued recommendations in 2012 stating that people with most medical conditions would benefit from avoiding electromagnetic and radiofrequency radiation exposure, and epidemiologist Devra Davis stated that pregnant women should avoid proximity to wireless routers at a press conference in New York City in June, 2014. Today, pregnant women and people with many medical conditions can assert reasonable accommodation by getting routers turned off indoors; once the hotspots, which are much higher powered than a router, are rolled out, the sidewalks will become inaccessible to some; others will not be able to follow doctors' orders if they must go to the city of New York and simply walk on a street."[Deborah Kopald (BA, Harvard; MBA, MIT Sloan School of Management) is an environmental health and public policy consultant and author who has developed and overseen the passage of legislative initiatives and has served as a guest expert at various media outlets. In 2013, she organized and moderated The Conference on Corporate Interference with Science and Health in New York City. The conference proceedings were published in Reviews on Environmental Health.]
Read On Sep 152014
PRESS RELEASE - STOP SMART METERS MASSACHUSETTS
National Grid cut off electricity for non-payment, resulting in death of 6-year-old girl
508-376-5360 The death of a 6 year-old girl in a NY home where National Grid cut off
electricity for non-payment has amplified human rights and environmental
activist group Stop Smart Meters Massachusetts' request for an
investigation into the expense to ratepayers of the Department of Public
Utilities smart meter mandate. The group has also called for an audit of
the controversial $48M, 15,000 meter Worcester pilot program, which is 5
times larger and far more expensive than the Green Communities Act mandate. Carbon monoxide poisoning is suspected in the NY death due to the use of an
indoor propane heater. The Chicago area Advanced Metering Infrastructure
Health Impact Assessment, conducted in partnership between the National
Center for Medical Legal Partnership at Boston Medical Center
, and Citizens Utility Board
noted that customers deprived of
electricity often turn to unsafe alternatives, endangering health and
Wireless smart meters enable two-way communication between the utility and
the home. 111 municipalities in Quebec have called for a moratorium and/or
free opt out. Germany has rejected smart meter deployment. In the UK, the
Committee of Public Accounts issued a report Sept. 9 casting doubt over the
validity of the smart meter rollout, raising concerns over the cost-benefit
to consumers and the ability of the energy market to keep costs down.
Nations including Italy, the site of the Vatican leukemia lawsuit, opted
for safer, faster; more secure hard-wired technology. Italy is not
collecting private usage data from customers. Lakeland, Florida;
Saskatchewan, Canada; Pennsylvania, and Oregon have removed thousands of
smart meters due to fire hazards.The Worcester pilot program, which included 242 microwave antennas, has
been delayed due to contentious zoning battles regarding placement of
towers in residential neighborhoods. Despite the fact that the pilot
program has not proven smart meter effectiveness, the DPU has already
mandated the technology for MA investor-owned utilities, estimated at a
cost of over $7B to ratepayers. Tim Knauss of Syracuse.com reported that in NY, "For the past decade, in
good times and bad, National Grid has reported more than 200,000 customers
a month - roughly one in seven - who are at least two months behind on
their bills. Each year since 2006, National Grid has terminated between
49,000 and 61,000 residential accounts for nonpayment in its Upstate
territory, which extends from Albany to Buffalo. For some customers, there
is "a permanent level of unaffordability built into the rates,'' said
William Yates, a senior financial analyst at Public Utility Law Project. Larry Rulison of the Times-Union reported, " National Grid
is forecasting that by the year 2029, the average residential electric
bill, including electricity, delivery charges and taxes and fees, in
upstate New York will rise from $89.62 a month to $132.38 -- an increase of
47 percent. And while the increase includes the expected rise in National
Grid's operating costs, much of it is going to come from the rise in
wholesale electricity costs over that period. Wholesale power prices could
nearly double over the next 15 years, National Grid believes, growing from
roughly 6 cents per kilowatt hour to nearly 11 cents." Central Maine Power
requested an 8% rate hike increase instead of promised savings after
statewide smart meter deployment. Informed activists caution that the costly technology is untested, has not
been monitored for environmental and health impacts, and relies on FCC
guidelines that have not been reviewed since 1996. Concerns are mounting
that consumers will be forced to pay for the technology twice, once for the
initial installation, and then for the replacement cost once the
shortcomings of the system are readily apparent. The Department of Public Utilities relied on the testimony of tobacco
scientist Peter Valberg from the product defense firm Gradient, while
reports such as the Seletun Scientific Statement recognize biological harm
occurring at radio frequency exposure levels far below US exposure
guidelines, which have never been tested for children, pregnant women, the
infirm, medically vulnerable, or elderly. The Berkshire-Litchfield Environmental Council, which provided testimony in
opposition to smart meters for MA DPU docket 12-76 stated, "The smart grid
is increasingly understood as an over engineered, ill-advised, financial
boondoggle at taxpayer expense, capable of endangering the security of the
entire national grid, violating constitutional privacy protections and
endangering public health. In addition, the smart grid/metering has not
been found to save energy when all the new variables in the system are
factored in. Plus, time-of-use pricing is largely punitive to those who can
least afford it. Time-of-use pricing is fundamentally a Wall Street model
designed to maintain shareholder profits as we transition to more energy
efficient models that will reduce demand."
Investigate Worcester MA Smart Meter Pilot ProgramPlease sign this petition on behalf of Worcester residents:
The Worcester National Grid Smart Meter Pilot program exposes the community
to unprecedented risks in violation of local democracy.
Will you sign this petition to Attorney General Martha Coakley? Read On Aug 212014
Court Rules in Favor of Public Hearings - Telecom tower industry newsletter article
Court Case Illuminates Problems of Time-limited PermitsCourt Rules in Favor of Public Hearings "American Tower V. City of San Diego also addresses the issue of whether or not a public hearing should be required under California state law for a change to an existing antenna structure. Wireless advocates hold that legislative language in Section 6409(a) that "a State or local government may not deny, and shall approve, any eligible facilities request" precludes the need for a public hearing.
"The court states that the automatic approval of American Tower's applications without a hearing would deprive landowners of their property rights and would violate due process.
"[American Tower] claims that the automatic approval of its conditional users permit applications would not constitute a substantial or significant deprivation ... because the facilities are already in existence, their continued presence cannot possibly deprive adjacent landowners of any property rights," the court wrote. "This argument ignores [American Tower's] obligation to return the sites to their original condition now that the original conditional-use permits have expired by their terms.
"Dozens of antennas perched on hundreds of feet of towers alongside hundreds of square feet of equipment shelters may not seem like a cognizable impact to [American Tower], but we believe most landowners would beg to differ," the court added.
Read On Aug 122014
Amended Notice of Civil Claim - August 12, 2014
Between Nomi Davis and BC Hydro
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF BRITISH COLUMBIABETWEEN: NOMI DAVIS, AS REPRESENTATIVE PLAINTIFF - PLAINTIFFAND:BRITISH COLUMBIA HYDRO AND POWER AUTHORITY - DEFENDANTAMENDED NOTICE OF CIVIL CLAIM . . .Part 1: Statement of Facts
B.The impugned conductC. Contract i. Residential Contract ii. Commercial Contract ii. Microwave Device isnot necessaryD. The refusal (Residential)D.2 The refusal (Commercial)D.3 The Direct Communication i. BC Hydro Communication ii. Overlapping Issues iii. Information withheld iv. No notice to the plaintiffE. The Residential ClassE.1 The Commercial ClassPart 2: RELIEF SOUGHTPart 3: LEGAL BASISA. Rights and Freedoms i. Residential ii. CommercialB. Causes of ActionC. ContractD. LegislationAppendix Part 1: CONCISE SUMMARY OF NATURE OF CLAIM PART 2: THIS CLAIM ARISES FROM TE FOLLOWING: PART 3: THIS CLAIM INVOLVES PART 4: Hydro and Power Authority Act Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms Clean Energy ActPARTICIPATION FORM to JOIN CLASS ACTION
Download (pdf) ¦ Read On Aug 82014
The brain tumor cases awaiting a Washington DC judge's ruling are now cleared to proceed to trial as the judge deemed the science strong enough to merit going to trial. This is a monumental decision.
"A Washington D.C. superior court ruled that five scientific expert witnesses can testify for consumers suffering from brain tumors allegedly caused or promoted by cell phone use . . .
"Judge Frederick H. Weisberg who is presiding over 13 consolidated lawsuits against the telecom industry ruled that experts met the Dyas/Frye legal standards and can offer testimony related to injury causation and health effects. The court held evidentiary hearings in December 2013 and January 2014 and reviewed hundreds of exhibits.
"Judge Weisberg noted that while the court did not decide the issue of whether cell phones cause brain tumors new scientific studies and information have emerged recently. His order referred to a May 2014 French case-control epidemiological study that found support for "a possible association between heavy mobile phone use" and brain tumors.
"Each of the plaintiffs in the litigation suffers from a brain tumor or is suing for a family of someone who died of brain cancer. . .
Read On Apr 302014
Lawsuit Against Meter Sickness - Are You In? (California)
Mass Tort Filed Against Utilities For Health Effects From Smart Meters/Smart Grid "This is an announcement of legal actions against harm from wireless radiation from household and commercial digital electric meters. "More and more people are discovering that otherwise unexplained health problems can be correlated and attributed to electromagnetic exposures from wireless devices, especially the new generation of "Smart Grid" digital electric meters. "The recent and ongoing worldwide deployment of digital electric meters on homes has caused a major increase in symptoms, illnesses and injuries to health. The massive scale of these problems is just starting to be recognized. "Those industries, businesses and individuals who profit from wireless technologies, such as your power company, are suppressing information about the hazards of wireless technologies. They are attacking proponents of responsible wireless management and they are knowingly exposing the public to harm and damage hoping that the general public and the media will refuse to believe the obvious and proven connection between electromagnetic radiation and biological damage.
"Because of the wireless industry's irresponsibility and wrongdoing, unfortunately, legal actions have become necessary. There are many illnesses and injuries caused by digital electric metering. Liz Barris, a lawsuit organizer, announces in this video how to recognize the symptoms of EMR exposure and how to contact competent legal assistance to join existing and upcoming legal actions to protect you and your family's health, safety, privacy, rights and property. . . .