Jordan v. Georgia Power Co., A95A1585

• Citation: 219 Ga.App. 690,466 S.E.2d 601
• Decision Date: 30 November 1995
• Docket Number: No. A95A1585,A95A1585
• Parties: JORDAN et al. v. GEORGIA POWER COMPANY et al.
• Court: United States Court of Appeals (Georgia)

Page 601

466 S.E.2d 601

219 Ga.App. 690

JORDAN et al. v. GEORGIA POWER COMPANY et al.

No. A95A1585.

Court of Appeals of Georgia.

Nov. 30, 1995.

Reconsideration Denied Dec. 20, 1995.

Certiorari Granted April 12, 1996.

Action for damages. Douglas Superior Court. Before Judge Emerson.

Doffermyre, Shields, Canfield & Knowles, Robert E. Shields, Atlanta, for appellants.

Troutman Sanders, Robert L. Pennington, Scott A. Farrow, Sutherland, Asbill & Brennan, James A. Orr, Atlanta, for appellees.

POPE, Presiding Judge.

On July 24, 1991, Larry and Nancy Jordan filed a complaint in Douglas County against Georgia Power Company and Oglethorpe Power Corporation ("Oglethorpe") for damages arising from electromagnetic radiation on their property. The case was tried to a jury, and the jury returned a defendants' verdict on causation; this appeal followed.

The complaint alleged that since 1972 Larry Jordan had owned and resided on property onto which Nancy Jordan and her children moved in 1983. According to the complaint, in 1973 Oglethorpe and Georgia Power installed power lines on an easement next to the Jordans' property, and those power lines began emitting unreasonably dangerous levels of electromagnetic radiation onto the property. The complaint claimed that as a result of the electromagnetic fields ("EMFs"), the property had been rendered unsafe and Nancy Jordan had developed non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. The complaint set forth counts for injunctive relief, trespass, nuisance, negligence, inherently dangerous activity, negligent misrepresentation, battery and punitive damages.

Oglethorpe and Georgia Power answered the complaint and filed a motion for bifurcation. The court granted the motion to bifurcate the trial on the issues of liability and damages.

Oglethorpe and Georgia Power filed a motion for summary judgment, setting forth a variety of arguments. Subsequently, the Jordans dismissed the claim for fraud, all claims of their minor children, and all claims for future medical monitoring for Larry Jordan. On December 28, 1993, the court granted summary judgment on the Jordans' trespass claim and concluded that the case would be tried according to a negligence standard, not according to the standard for ultrahazardous activities. In the pretrial order, filed several days before trial, the Jordans reiterated their claims for compensatory and punitive damages on theories of trespass, nuisance, battery, negligence, and strict liability.

From April 19 until May 5, 1994, evidence was presented to a jury. Seventeen witnesses, including Larry and Nancy Jordan, testified. Larry Jordan testified that when he bought the property in 1972, he was aware of the easement which Georgia Power had on the property. He stated that he did not recall power lines being built on the property until 1973. Mr. Jordan testified that he and Nancy Jordan were married in 1983 and that she then moved into his house. Nancy Jordan was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1985 and with a second cancer, the subject of this lawsuit, in 1989. In 1990 the Jordans moved; they had a difficult time selling the house. Larry Jordan testified that eventually the bank foreclosed on the house, because he could no longer make payments.

The Jordans called several expert witnesses. Dr. Peter Wright, a cancer specialist, testified that Mrs. Jordan's disease developed because of her exposure to electromagnetic radiation generated through power lines. Wright testified that electromagnetic radiation caused non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and that this conclusion was supported by various studies.

Oglethorpe and Georgia Power called as witnesses Dr. James Bland and Dr. Saul Rosenberg, who testified that electromagnetic radiation did not cause Mrs. Jordan's disease. These doctors testified that magnetic fields from power lines were not the cause of lymphomas in general, or of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in particular.

After the conclusion of the evidence, but before the jury returned its verdict, the court directed a verdict against the Jordans on the battery and punitive damages claims. The jury then returned its verdict, finding that the magnetic fields from the transmission lines were not the proximate cause of Mrs. Jordan's non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. After the return of the verdict on causation, the court directed a verdict against the Jordans on their nuisance claim. The court then entered judgment in favor of Oglethorpe and Georgia Power and against the Jordans.

At the outset, we note that while we are unable to find Georgia cases addressing the viability of a claim for EMF exposure, the issue of injury allegedly caused by EMFs has arisen in several contexts in other states. See generally San Diego Gas & Elec. Co. v. Superior Court of Orange County, 36 Cal.App.4th 1461, 41 Cal.App.4th 539, 38 Cal.Rptr.2d 811, rehearing granted 41 Cal.Rptr.2d 220, 895 P.2d 56 (1995); Borenkind v. Consolidated Edison Corp., 164 Misc.2d 808, 626 N.Y.S.2d 414 (1995); Chappell v. Va. Elec., etc., Co., 250 Va. 169, 458 S.E.2d 282 (1995); Linnebur v. Pub. Svc. Comm. of Colorado, 716 P.2d 1120 (Colo.1986); see also Orr and Boswell, "The Use and Abuse of Scientific Evidence: A Case Study in Electromagnetic Field Litigation," Ga. Bar Journal, Vol. I, Issue 1, 1995. We recognize that in rendering this decision, we are necessarily limited by the present state of scientific knowledge.

1. The Jordans argue that the court erred by permitting expert witnesses called by Oglethorpe and Georgia Power to testify concerning hearsay opinions of unidentified non-testifying witnesses. Before trial the Jordans filed a motion in limine to exclude testimony as to a "consensus in the scientific community," which motion the court denied. Here, citing Brown v. State, 206 Ga.App. 800, 427 S.E.2d 9 (1992), and Martin v. Reed, 200 Ga.App. 775, 409 S.E.2d 874 (1991), they contend that an expert witness may not act as a surrogate for a non-testifying expert.

The specific testimony to which the Jordans object was that of Drs. Richard Bland and Saul Rosenberg. Dr. Rosenberg, a physician and professor of radiation oncology at Stanford University, testified that the scientific medical community did not consider magnetic fields from power lines a cause of lymphomas in general, or of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in particular. Similarly, Dr. Bland, a medical doctor with a specialty in radiation oncology, testified that "the medical oncology community in this area and in Georgia does not feel that EMF is a causative factor for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma." Both doctors also testified that in their opinions, Mrs. Jordan's disease was not caused by the magnetic fields from the power lines.

In Orkin Exterminating Co. v. McIntosh, 215 Ga.App. 587(4), 452 S.E.2d 159 (1994), this Court addressed a somewhat similar issue regarding causation. There, citing Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, 509 U.S. 579, 113 S.Ct. 2786, 125 L.Ed.2d 469 (1993), Orkin argued that the expert testimony relied upon by McIntosh regarding the long-term effects of pesticide exposure was "outside the mainstream of scientific thought" and was inadmissible.

In resolving the question of whether the scientific testimony regarding causation was admissible, the Orkin court stated: "[w]e first note that Daubert involves the application of Federal Rule of Evidence 702, which has not been adopted in Georgia. The applicable law in Georgia is OCGA § 24-9-67, which provides: 'the opinions of experts on any question of science, skill, trade or like questions shall always be admissible; and such opinions may be given on the facts as proved by other witnesses.' Provided an expert witness is properly qualified in the field in which he offers testimony [cits.], and the facts relied upon are within the bounds of the evidence, whether there is sufficient knowledge upon which to base an opinion or whether it is based upon hearsay goes to the weight and credibility of the testimony, not its admissibility. [Cits.]" Orkin, 215 Ga.App. at 592, 452 S.E.2d 159.

"With respect to a particular scientific procedure or technique, the trial court makes a determination 'whether the procedure or technique in question has reached a scientific stage of verifiable certainty,' based upon evidence, expert testimony, treatises, or the rationale of cases in other jurisdictions. Harper v. State, 249 Ga. 519, 525(1) (292 SE2d 389) (1982)." Orkin, 215 Ga.App. at 593, 452 S.E.2d 159. In making its determination, the court may rely on evidence "presented to it at trial by the parties; in this regard expert testimony may be of value. Or the trial court may base its determination on exhibits, treatises or the rationale of cases in other jurisdictions. The significant point is that the trial court makes this determination based on the evidence available to [it] rather than by simply calculating the consensus in the scientific community." (Citations and punctuation omitted.) Harper, 249 Ga. at 525, 292 S.E.2d 389.

Contrary to the assertions of Oglethorpe and Georgia Power, Harper did not hold that an expert witness may, in the presence of the jury, testify as these witnesses did regarding a perceived consensus in the scientific community. Though it was proper for the court to allow the doctors' testimony regarding their own opinions of the cause of Mrs. Jordan's illness, the court committed reversible error in admitting this "consensus" testimony. "An expert may give an opinion upon the facts testified to by other witnesses, but not upon their opinions. A witness' opinion must be his own and he cannot act as a mere conduit for the opinions of others." (Citations and punctuation omitted.) In the Interest of A.S.M., 214 Ga.App. 668, 671(1), 448 S.E.2d 703 (1994). Neither Dr. Bland nor Dr. Rosenberg clearly identified the "community" of experts for which he was speaking, nor did either doctor precisely explain the method by which he ascertained the "consensus." See generally Manley v. State, 206 Ga.App. 281, 424...