Minnesota Resident Cites ADA to Demand Carriers Use Beamforming to Avoid Her Home

(Duluth, Minnesota) Marcia Haller, a resident of Duluth, filed a lawsuit recently in federal court against American Tower Company, AT&T, and T-Mobile, following their non-response to her request for them to lower radiofrequency levels in the vicinity of her home, caused predominantly by carrier antennas broadcasting from a 295 tower situated roughly 1300 feet away.

RF signals from nearby sources have allegedly caused her 51 strokes and other debilitating symptoms due to her electromagnetic sensitivity, with the severity of symptoms greatly accelerating after carriers like T-Mobile upgraded their facilities to 5G technology.

In her complaint, Haller, with legal backing from the Children’s Health Defense's Electromagnetic Radiator & Wireless program, demands that signal mitigation measures be taken, citing provisions in the Americans with Disabilities Act that prohibit discrimination against people with disabilities in the provision of publicly available commercial services.

The suit suggests feasible solutions like reorienting existing antennas or employing newer beamforming technology, while also acknowledging the challenge of complete RF signal containment due to natural and man-made obstructions.

Although it is too early to project the outcome, this complaint appears to suffer from the same weaknesses that have limited the impacts of previous efforts, including RF safety exhibits from ‘experts’ with titles such as “Certified Building Biology Environmental Consultant & Certified ElectroMagnetic Radiation Specialist” from Grateful Dowsing - Environmental Healing Services, a firm which recommends that precious stones and crystal healing be utilized to mitigate adverse health effects from RF emissions.

Such spirited litigation often ends up counterproductive to the intended goals of those filing the actions, frustrating those looking for an empirical reliable evaluation of 5G health effects that holds up under scrutiny. It also probably does not help that the Children’s Health Defense is heavily involved as a lead and driving force.

This action does show us the ongoing debate over 5G’s effects on human health is far from over. Its deja vu resemblance to the 2022 incident in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, is unsurprising considering CHD’s involvement. In 2022, Verizon's tower was ordered shut down by the local Board of Health due to complaints from residents, a decision later retracted amid legal pressures and regulatory clarifications favoring federal oversight on wireless radiation safety.

Hoplite will continue to track developments in this case as well as those in Loper Bright Enterprises vs. Raimondo, and Relentless Inc. vs. Department of Commerce, which are revisiting Chevron Deference at the US Supreme Court level.