Cell Phone Tower Lawsuit

The high court will decide whether cities can be sued in federal court and forced to pay damages for curtailing the business of wireless networks.

The Supreme Court will decide whether cities must pay damages to the wireless phone networks for blocking expansion of their networks. Thousands of towers are needed to transmit cell phone signals-in the last decade 140,000 have been built-and more are needed to eliminate dead zones. But many cities find the towers unsightly and have blocked wireless phone companies from building more of them. The National League of Cities and the League of California Cities -- as well as lawyers for Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco -- were among those who urged the justices to block damage suits. The outcome of the legal battle could affect communities across the nation. The court's decision would give either city officials or wireless companies the upper hand in disputes over the building and location of towers. Cities could face millions of dollars in damages if they refused a bid to build a cell tower. Very few municipalities could afford to enforce their own zoning laws if they were subject later to damaging suits. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 gave wireless phone service providers the right to build their networks. Lawyers for the cell phone industry told the court that Congress' goal of creating a national cell phone network could not be achieved if local officials could use their zoning power to block new towers. However, the possibility of a crippling verdict could force city officials to automatically approve requests for new cell phone towers. Perhaps all that is needed is a clever way to disguise the towers as trees. The towers would no longer be unsightly, and the cell phone companies could grow their networks in peace.