Litigation - Recent Cases. Workplace Exposure.
Vaughters et al. v. Consolidated Edison Company of New York

Television employee Shirley Marano alleged in her lawsuit filed in November 1993 that EMF from a transformer under the floor in her Manhattan office building caused her ovarian and breast cancers. Marano, who worked in the CBS building on W. 57th Street in New York, died on June 7, 1994, but her estate, co-administered by her sister Myrtle Vaughters and brother Donald Morris, have continued to pursue her claim and have been substituted as the plaintiffs in this action. An amended complaint in December 1994 added her colon cancer.

In her ruling, State Supreme Court Judge Alice Schlesinger decided that, after reviewing expert medical testimony offered by Con Edison, the plaintiffs were "unable to raise an issue of fact with respect to their claim that electromagnetic fields were a proximate cause of the cancers in Shirley Marano." Central to Con Edison's evidentiary submissions was an affidavit by Darwin R. Labarthe, M.D., Ph.D.

Dr. Labarthe is a physician and an epidemiologist. He is Professor of Public Health, Preventive Medicine and Epidemiology at the University of Texas, an Adjunct Professor of Medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine, and Director of the Epidemiology Research Center at the University of Texas. Dr. Labarthe told the court that of the numerous studies on EMFs and cancer, only one discussed a possible relationship between EMFs and ovarian cancer and that one found "no relation apparent between exposure and disease." See: Occupational Cancer Mortality Among Women Employed In The Telephone Industry. Dosemeci, M.; Blair, A. J Occup Med 36(11):1204-1209; 1994. [BENER No. 11813]

Con Edison Was supported in its motion by an amicus brief filed by the Atlantic Legal Foundation, an organization that represents scientists and doctors including several Nobel Laureates. The brief dealt in depth with the current state of scientific knowledge regarding EMFs and cancer and showed there is a "lack of any conclusive scientific evidence connecting the two."

In its opposition to Con Edison's motion for summary judgment, the Marano estate offered an affidavit from Occupational Safety and Health Administration Technical Information Specialist Marija Hughes whom Judge Schlesinger found unqualified to give an opinion "to any degree of medical or scientific certainty."

Con Edison is represented by corporate attorneys Richard W. Babinecz and John M. Fox. The estate is represented by New York City attorney Leopold Kaplan.