— Nissan says a LEAF lawsuit should be dismissed after the owner of a 2015 Nissan LEAF alleged radiation from the battery made him sick.
Georgia plaintiff Josef Tater says Nissan should pay $1 billion for allegedly not shielding LEAF occupants from high levels of low-frequency electric and magnetic field (EMF) radiation.
In May 2015, plaintiff Tater’s wife leased a Nissan LEAF, but in January 2017 the plaintiff allegedly began experiencing symptoms such as “uncontrolled eye dilation, chest palpitations, memory loss and difficulty to concentrate” which progressed to “sporadic hallucinations.”
By the end of January 2017 he “had a difficult time . . . distinguish[ing] what was real and what was not, and as a result was terminated from his job.”
The Nissan LEAF lawsuit says the plaintiff was “hospitalized with inability to hear and speak,” and these physical and mental symptoms continued and allegedly caused his divorce from his wife in April 2017.
After his January 2017 hospitalization, the plaintiff “had suspicions the car ha[d] something to do with his symptoms," and his suspicions were allegedly confirmed when he met “a person who was experiencing similar symptoms” and who lived with “electromagnetic sensitivity.”
Motion to Dismiss the Nissan LEAF Lawsuit
In its motion to dismiss the LEAF lawsuit, attorneys for Nissan argue the lawsuit fails to state a claim on which relief can be granted. Specifically, Nissan says the plaintiff waited too long to file his radiation lawsuit.
According to the plaintiff, he became aware of his alleged symptoms in January 2017 and believed the problems were caused by EMF radiation from the battery.
"Therefore, under Georgia law, Plaintiff had two years from the date in January 2017 in which his symptoms began to bring his lawsuit against Nissan, making his action time-barred as of January 2019." — Nissan's motion to dismiss the LEAF lawsuit
The plaintiff didn't file his LEAF radiation lawsuit until May 7, 2021, and Nissan wasn't served the complaint until June 8, 2021. Nissan says this means the LEAF lawsuit "must be dismissed because it is time-barred by the statute of limitations."
The Nissan LEAF lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia: Josef Tater, v. Nissan North America, Inc.