Verizon has defeated a lawsuit filed by a utility pole worker who claims that lead cables made him sick.
A federal judge on Friday granted Verizon's motion to dismiss the complaint, which sought class action status on behalf of other utility pole workers. However, the judge said the plaintiff may have standing to bring his claims in state court instead of federal court.
The lawsuit was filed in US District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania in September 2023, about two months after a Wall Street Journal report said that at least 2,000 lead-covered telephone cables installed decades ago by multiple phone companies had not been removed.