United States: Telecom Industry Not Required to Accommodate People Sickened by Cell Tower Radiation, Courts Rule

Telecom Industry Not Required to Accommodate People Sickened by Cell Tower Radiation, Courts Rule
by Suzanne Burdick, Ph.D., childrenshealthdefense.org,  May 19, 2025

Wireless companies don’t have to make accommodations or changes to their practices or policies under the Americans with Disabilities Act when their towers make people nearby sick, even in their homes, a panel of judges ruled.

Wireless companies don’t have to make accommodations or changes to their practices under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) — even when their towers make people sick in their homes, a federal appeals court ruled.

The ruling came as a blow to plaintiff Henry “Hank” Allen, who alleged the radiofrequency (RF) radiation emitted by a cell tower installed next to his home triggered more than 15 episodes of atrial fibrillation.

Allen told The Defender the ruling confirms the “deeply troubling reality” that there is “no legal remedy for Americans being injured by wireless infrastructure.”

“Under the current interpretation of the ADA, people like me who are disabled by involuntary exposure to cell tower radiation are simply left behind,” Allen said. “In effect, the wireless industry has been given a license to harm and a ‘get out of jail free’ card. They can place harmful towers next to homes, schools, and businesses without consequences — even when people are getting sick.”

In late 2023, Allen sued Verizon and other companies involved in the operation of the tower, alleging Verizon’s tower triggered a slew of health symptoms, including life-threatening cardiac events, extreme fatigue, impaired memory and vision, sleep disruption and flu-like symptoms.

Children’s Health Defense (CHD) funded the suit. Allen’s case was the first in CHD’s strategic line of cases seeking relief for people disabled by RF radiation under the ADA, a federal law that “protects people with disabilities in many areas of public life.”

The complaint argued that the space on the tower leased to the telecommunications companies and associated infrastructure that are necessary to access the internet constitute a physical “place” subject to compliance with the ADA.

However, the U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho dismissed the case, ruling that wireless companies’ cellular networks are not a “place of public accommodation” under the ADA.

On May 12, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit affirmed the lower court’s ruling.

W. Scott McCollough, lead litigator for CHD’s Electromagnetic Radiation (EMR) and Wireless cases, called the outcome “terrible” because it means wireless companies don’t have to make ADA-mandated accommodations or modifications to their practices or policies when their towers make people nearby sick.

“The District Court, and now the 9th Circuit appeals panel, have ruled that wireless companies are not subject to the ADA at all with regard to how they deliver their wireless service,” McCollough. “Their stores are covered, but not the product sold at the stores.”

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Telecom Industry Not Required to Accommodate People Sickened by Cell Tower Radiation, Courts Rule • Children's Health Defense