Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Parents Of Oak Park Elementary School District 97 sue over high frequency electro-magnetic radiation in Schools.

From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 07 Oct 2003 05:28:50 -0400

Sued For WiFi?
Contributed by mmasnick on Mon, Oct 6 2003

WiFi Network News is reporting that a school district has been sued for planning a WiFi network, because parents say that the WiFi networks emit harmful electro-magnetic radiation. The lawsuit claims that there is a "substantial body of evidence" that WiFi emits harmful EMR - though, this seems to be the first most people have heard of such evidence.

===========================================================================================================================================================IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS
COUNTY DEPARTMENT, CHANCERY DIVISION
Rachel and Rebecca Baiman, John Davis, and
Jonah and Maya Cabral, by their Fathers
and next Friends, individually and on behalf
of all other people similarly situated,
Plaintiffs,
v.
Oak Park Elementary School District 97,
John C. Fagan, Dan Burke, Adekunle
Onayemi, Marcia Frank, Sharon Patchak-
Layman, Carolyn Newberry Schwartz,
Michelle Harton and Bob Walsh,
Defendants.

Case No.
Judge

CLASS ACTION COMPLAINT

Plaintiffs, Rachel and Rebecca Baiman, John Davis, and Jonah and Maya Cabral, by
their
Fathers and next Friends, individually, and on behalf of all others similarly
situated, by their
attorneys, Buehler Reed & Williams, complain of Defendants Oak Park Elementary
School
District 97, John C. Fagan, Dan Burke, Adekunle Onayemi, Marcia Frank, Sharon
Patchak-
Layman, Carolyn Newberry Schwartz, Michelle Harton and Bob Walsh, as follows:

NATURE OF THE CASE

1. Plaintiffs are all minors and residents of Oak Park Illinois, all of whom
attend
school in the Oak Park Elementary School District 97. District 97 serves the Oak
Park
community by providing elementary school education to thousands of students in
eight schools
serving Kindergarten through Fifth Grade students and in two middle schools for
Sixth through
Eighth grade students. Plaintiffs bring this action because District 97, its
Board, and its
Superintendent have recently implemented wireless local area network technology in
the
classrooms. Specifically, the Defendants have installed wireless networks in each
of the school
buildings under its jurisdiction. In so doing, the Defendants have ignored the
substantial body of
evidence that high frequency electro-magnetic radiation poses substantial and
serious health risks,
particularly to growing children. The Defendants have thereby breached their
duties of care to
the children of District 97.

2. Venue is proper in this Court pursuant to 735 ILCS 5/101. All of the Defendants

are residents of this county, and all of the acts giving rise to this cause of
action occurred in this
county.

PARTIES

3. Plaintiffs are all minor children enrolled in the District 97 School System and
they
are all residents of Oak Park, Illinois.

a. Plaintiff Rachel Baiman is an Eighth grade student at Julian Middle School. Her
Sister, Plaintiff Rebecca Baiman is a student at Beye School.

b. Plaintiff John Davis is a student at Hatch grade School.

c. Plaintiffs Maya and Jonah Cabral are students at Lincoln grade School.

4. Defendant, Oak Park Elementary School District 97, is a school district serving

the Village of Oak Park’s public school children. District 97’s main offices are
located at 970
West Madison Street, Oak Park, Illinois.

5. Defendant, John C. Fagan, is the District 97 Superintendent. Dr. Fagan is and
has
been the District 97 Superintendent at all times relevant to this suit.

6. Defendant Adekunle Onayemi is, and at all relevant times has been, President of

the District 97 School Board.

7. Defendants, Dan Burke, Marcia Frank, Sharon Patchak-Layman, Carolyn
Newberry Schwartz, Michelle Harton, and Bob Walsh, are, and at all relevant times
have been,
the remaining members of the District 97 Board.

CLASS ACTION ALLEGATIONS

8. The class which the named Plaintiffs represent (the “Class”) consists of all
children currently attending District 97 schools. This includes children in
kindergarten through
eighth grade and extends to ten separate schools.

9. The class of persons affected by the Defendants’ actions consists of at least a
few
thousand persons and is so numerous that joinder of all members of the class is
impracticable.
10. There are questions of both fact and law common to the class, and those common

questions predominate over any questions affecting only individual members of the
class.
Among the common questions are the following:

i) Whether Defendants failed to exercise ordinary care in determining to install
wireless local area networks in the classrooms of District 97;

ii) Whether, by such conduct, Defendants have breached the duty of care they owe
to the children of District 97;

iii) Whether, by such conduct, Defendants have exposed the children
of District 97 to unreasonably dangerous health risks caused by constant exposure
to high frequency electromagnetic radiation; and

iv) Whether Plaintiffs and the Class are entitled to injunctive relief.

11. Plaintiffs and their attorneys will fairly and adequately protect the
interests of the
Class in that the named Plaintiffs, like all other members of the Class, have been
and will be,
subjected to the same health risks from prolonged exposure to low level high
frequency
electromagnetic radiation, and have therefore been adversely affected by such
action in a like
manner as all other members of the Class. Plaintiffs have retained attorneys who
are experienced
in class action litigation and are committed to prosecuting this action.

12. A class action is the most fair, just and convenient manner in which to
adjudicate
the claims arising out of Defendant’s conduct. Should individual actions be
brought, or be
required to be brought by each individual class member, a multiplicity of lawsuits
would result
and cause undue hardship and expense for the Court and the litigants.

SUBSTANTIVE ALLEGATIONS

13. District 97 operates a ten school system in Oak Park serving thousands of
children from Kindergarten through Eighth Grade. Plaintiffs are Oak Park school
children who
attend public school in District 97 in Oak Park, Illinois.

14. Some time prior to the filing of this Complaint (a time well known to
Defendants
but presently unknown to Plaintiffs), District 97, acting through its Board and
Superintendent,
made the decision to implement wireless local area network technology (“LAN”) in
each of the
District 97 classrooms. Some time later, when the decision to implement wireless
technology
became widely known to the public, District 97 passed a “Resolution On Wireless
Technology”.
(Exhibit 1.) This “cutting edge” technology has the ostensible advantage of
allowing students to
access the local school computer network anywhere in the classroom without
requiring that the
students plug into a “docking station.”

15. District 97 however failed to adequately examine and assess the potential
health
risks that wireless LANs pose to humans, particularly children who are still
growing.

16. In fact, there is a substantial and growing body of scientific literature
studying and
outlining the serious health risks that exposure to low intensity, but high radio
frequency (“RF”)
radiation poses to human beings, particularly children. For example, responsible
scientists have
reported that prolonged exposure to low intensity RF radiation can break down DNA
strands,
cause chromosome aberrations and break down the blood-brain barrier, thereby
permitting toxic
proteins to invade the brain. And, these occur at radiation levels below what a
child would be
exposed to by sitting in front of a computer on a wireless network.

17. Other researchers have observed other potential health risks that they believe
are
traceable to exposure to low intensity RF radiation at levels that are at or below
the levels that
children would experience by using wireless LANs in a classroom. In fact, at
present, the
lawyers for the Plaintiffs and their clients have collected more than 400
scientific articles,
summaries and references outlining health risks from low intensity RF radiation
exposure, all or
most of which have been researched and written after 1995. By way of example only,
attached
as Exhibit 2 is a listing and a summary of thirty-one articles, all of which deal
with the potential
health risks from prolonged exposure to low intensity RF radiation, i.e.,
radiation given off by,
among other things, wireless LANs.

18. Plaintiffs asked repeatedly that they be given an opportunity to invite an
expert
witness to present and explain these materials so that Defendants could make an
informed
decision on whether to install wireless LANs. Defendants repeatedly refused.
Plaintiffs
repeatedly asked Defendants to disclose the individuals they allegedly consulted
with to
determine that the wireless LANs were safe for prolonged use around children.
Again,
Defendants refused to do so.

19. Defendants have stated publicly that they have examined the current,
prevailing
government regulations relating to safety of wireless technology and the system
installed in
District 97 poses no health risks to humans. This statement is false. The only
U.S. standards
that relate in any way to radiation exposure were developed by the F.C.C. before
1993 and relate
only to thermal radiation. The radiation that Plaintiffs object to here is
non-thermal and the
federal government has not promulgated any standards relating to this.

20. The state of scientific uncertainty is further reflected by the fact that
different
nations have different exposure standards. A summary of some of these standards
for over
twenty nations is attached hereto as Exhibit 3.

COUNT I
NEGLIGENCE

21. Plaintiffs repeat and reallege paragraphs 1-20 as though fully set forth
herein.

22. School districts have an affirmative duty to exercise reasonable care to
ensure the
health and safety of the children of their district. This duty includes the duty
to furnish
equipment that promotes and ensures the safety and health of the children of their
district.

23. By installing wireless LANs, with all of the potential health hazards that
they
pose, and by ignoring all of the scientific and medical literature outlining the
potential health
risks, Defendants failed to exercise reasonable care to protect the safety and
health of Plaintiffs
and the Class.

24. Defendants have thereby breached their duty of care to Plaintiffs and the
Class.

25. At all times relevant, Plaintiffs and the Class have exercised ordinary care
for their
own safety.

26. Plaintiffs and the Class are threatened with irreparable harm by Defendants’
conduct in that they have been exposed to grave health risks, many of which lead
to permanent
injury, disease and death. Plaintiffs and the Class therefore have no adequate
remedy at law.

PRAYER FOR RELIEF
WHEREFORE, Plaintiffs, on behalf of themselves and the Class respectfully pray
that this Court:

A. Certify this action as a class action with the named Plaintiffs as class
representatives and their attorneys as class counsel on behalf of a Class of all
persons described
above;

B. Enter judgment against Defendants for the threatened immediate, irreparable
harm
to Plaintiffs and the Class by reason of the acts alleged and enjoin the
Defendants from further
operating the wireless LANs until they can establish that the LANs pose no health
or safety
risks to Plaintiffs and the Class; and

C. Order such other and further relief as this Court may deem fit to grant in
fashioning a remedy for the named Plaintiffs and the Class they represent.
Respectfully submitted,
Rachel and Rebecca Baiman, John Davis, and Jonah
and Maya Cabral by their Fathers and next Friends,
individually and on behalf of all other people
similarly situated, Plaintiffs,

By:
One of their Attorneys
Terrence Buehler
Janet L. Reed
Robert E. Williams

BUEHLER REED & WILLIAMS
19 South LaSalle Street
Suite 1500
Chicago, Illinois 60603
(312) 372-2899

Attorney No. 70546

------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
Buy Ink Cartridges or Refill Kits for your HP, Epson, Canon or Lexmark
Printer at MyInks.com. Free s/h on orders $50 or more to the US & Canada.
http://www.c1tracking.com/l.asp?cid=5511
http://us.click.yahoo.com/mOAaAA/3exGAA/qnsNAA/61FxlB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------~->

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/

---

From: Don Root <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 07 Oct 2003 06:49:22 -0700

> WiFi Network News is reporting that a school district has been sued for planning a WiFi network, because parents say that the WiFi networks emit harmful electro-magnetic radiation. The lawsuit clai…

It was only a matter of time before this happened.
Tin foil hats, anyone?

Don

---

From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 07 Oct 2003 11:48:31 -0400

True-

But will it meet the legal test? I'm sure the Parents are going to argue 200 mw x 30 Kids in a 20x30   room = RF Hell.

--
    "NEXTEL-1 IT'S NOT JUST NEXTEL"
  Note The New address
Subscribe to Nextel-1: http://www.groups.yahoo.com/subscribe/NEXTEL-1

  "NEXTEL2 FOR iDEN SOFTWARE DEVELOPERS"
Subscribe to Nextel2: http://www.groups.yahoo.com/subscribe/NEXTEL2

  "WIRELESS FORUM HOMELAND SECURITY GROUP"
     The Complete Resource for Wireless Homeland Security.
Subscribe to WFHSG:  http://www.groups.yahoo.com/subscribe/WFHSG