Air Brake Systems, Inc. v. Mineta
| Citation | 357 F.3d 632 |
| Decision Date | 11 February 2004 |
| Docket Number | No. 02-1682.,02-1682. |
| Parties | AIR BRAKE SYSTEMS, INC., Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Norman Y. MINETA, in his capacity as Secretary of Transportation; National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (6th Circuit) |
Daniel L. Pulter (argued and briefed), David M. Lick (briefed), Loomis, Ewert, Parsley, Davis & Gotting, Lansing, MI, for Appellant.
Lloyd Guerci (briefed), National Highway Traffic Safety Admin., Washington, DC, Michael Jay Singer (briefed), Peter R. Maier (argued and briefed), U.S. Dept. of Justice Civ. Div., Appellate Section, Washington, DC, for Appellee.
Reginald Rose, III (briefed), Montgomery, AL, pro se.
Before KEITH, MARTIN, and SUTTON, Circuit Judges.
This case arises from a longstanding dispute between the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and Air Brake Systems, Inc. (Air Brake). Air Brake manufactures a "non-electronic" antilock brake system for trucks and trailers, which purports to comply with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 121, a NHTSA regulation concerning antilock brakes. When an Air Brake customer asked NHTSA whether a vehicle with Air Brake's brake system — the only non-electronic antilock brake system on the market — would comply with Standard 121, NHTSA's Acting Chief Counsel issued two opinion letters stating that the brake system would not satisfy the standard. NHTSA posted the letters on its website (with negative consequences for Air Brake's business), but it did not begin the statutory process for determining whether vehicles carrying such brakes were noncompliant or the statutory process for ordering a recall of vehicles with these brakes.
Soon after NHTSA posted the first of these letters on its website, Air Brake filed this action challenging the Chief Counsel's conclusion as well as the Chief Counsel's authority to issue the letter. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of NHTSA, reasoning that interpretive letters issued by NHTSA's Acting Chief Counsel do not constitute "final agency action" subject to judicial review under the Administrative Procedure Act. We agree that the tentative conclusions reached in the letters, which are based in part on Air Brake's representations about its antilock brake system and which NHTSA acknowledges are neither binding on the industry nor entitled to any administrative deference, do not constitute final agency action regarding the meaning of Standard 121 or Air Brake's compliance with that standard. At the same time, however, the letters do reflect final agency action with respect to the distinct question whether the Chief Counsel has authority to issue them, because the practice does not lend itself to further review at the agency level and has legal consequences. Yet because the practice of permitting NHTSA's Chief Counsel to issue advisory opinions in response to inquiries from the public does not exceed the Chief Counsel's authority (and indeed has much to recommend it), we affirm the district court's judgment in favor of the Government.
When Congress enacted the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966, 80 Stat. 718, 49 U.S.C. § 30101 et seq., it directed the Secretary of Transportation to prescribe motor vehicle safety standards. 49 U.S.C. § 30111. The Secretary in turn delegated this task to NHTSA. The first Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard was promulgated in 1967 and NHTSA has promulgated numerous other standards since then, including Standard 121 (codified at 49 C.F.R. § 571.121), which covers the requirements for air brake systems used in heavy vehicles.
In 1995, NHTSA amended Standard 121 to require that trucks, buses and trailers equipped with air brakes have an "antilock brake system." See Standard No. 121, Air Brake Systems, 60 Fed.Reg. 13,216 (Mar. 10, 1995). The standard defines "antilock brake system" as
a portion of a service brake system that automatically controls the degree of rotational wheel slip during braking by:
(1) Sensing the rate of angular rotation of the wheels;
(2) Transmitting signals regarding the rate of wheel angular rotation to one or more controlling devices which interpret those signals and generate responsive controlling output signals; and
(3) Transmitting those controlling signals to one or more modulators which adjust brake actuating forces in response to those signals.
49 C.F.R. § 571.121, S4. In accordance with this standard, antilock brakes also must have an electrical circuit capable of signaling a malfunction in the brakes through an external warning light. See id. §§ 571.121, S5.1.6.2, 5.1.6.3, 5.2.3.2, 5.2.3.3. NHTSA enacted the 1995 amendment amid concerns that only electronic braking systems would satisfy this provision. See Standard No. 121, 60 Fed.Reg. at 13,227.
One company concerned about the impact of the amended standard was Air Brake Systems, which manufactures braking systems installed on trucks and trailers. After devoting ten years to developing a pneumatic antilock brake system for trucks and trailers, Air Brake patented its new brake system — the "MSQR-5000" — in 1992. The MSQR-5000 is a non-electronic brake or, in the words of Air Brake, is a "non-computerized antilock braking system which is a combination differential pressure regulator/quick release valve that is installed at each braking axle into the service air lines centered between the brake chambers." J.A. at 94. Air Brake initially sold its non-electronic antilock brakes on the retrofit after-market for used trucks and trailers (which is not subject to Standard 121), but not on the original-equipment market for new trucks and trailers (which is subject to Standard 121).
After NHTSA amended Standard 121, William Washington, the current president of Air Brake, challenged the validity of the rule in federal court. Among other contentions, he claimed that the standard improperly sought to exclude non-electronic antilock brakes from the market and improperly imposed design specifications rather than performance criteria, all in violation of NHTSA's regulatory authority. The Tenth Circuit rejected Washington's challenge. See Washington v. Dep't of Transp., 84 F.3d 1222 (10th Cir.1996). In doing so, the court noted that a manufacturer "that has devised a new means of obtaining the same or better safety performance" may seek an exemption from a safety standard's requirements, and that "no special exemption would be necessary for a new device meeting [an] existing ... standard[]" if the standard is "purely performative," as opposed to one that requires "a particular type of equipment." Id. at 1225 & n. 3. Air Brake seized upon this language and at some point began marketing its product as compliant with Standard 121, despite the acknowledged absence of a warning light. J.A. at 225 ("). Air Brake represented in its Manufacturer's Certification that "[t]he exclusion of a warning light" in its pneumatic antilock brake system "is permissible pursuant to Washington v. DOT." J.A. at 224.
In January 2001, Air Brake tried to sell the MSQR-5000 to MAC Trailer Manufacturing, a manufacturer of vehicles subject to Standard 121. Because Air Brake's product was the only non-electronic antilock brake system on the market, MAC Trailer asked NHTSA (orally) whether the device met the requirements of Standard 121. NHTSA responded (also orally) that it did not.
A month later, William Washington and consultants hired by Air Brake met with NHTSA to explain the operation and features of the MSQR-5000, in an apparent attempt to persuade NHTSA that the braking system complied with the agency's safety standards. During the meeting, NHTSA requested that certain tests be performed on the product and that Air Brake submit the test data to the agency. Air Brake scheduled another meeting with NHTSA for this purpose on June 12, 2001.
On June 4, 2001, eight days before the scheduled meeting, NHTSA's Acting Chief Counsel, John Womack, sent a letter to MAC Trailer in response to its earlier oral inquiry and a subsequent written inquiry as to whether the MSQR-5000 satisfied Standard 121. In the letter, the Chief Counsel noted that NHTSA does not pre-approve equipment, and that the applicable statutes make the vehicle manufacturer, not the parts manufacturer, responsible for ensuring compliance with NHTSA's safety standards. Nonetheless, based on NHTSA's review of Air Brake's promotional materials and the "principles involved in [the braking system's] operation," he noted that "the installation of the MSQR-5000 alone would not allow a vehicle to meet [Standard] 121's [antilock brake system] requirement." J.A. at 172. The Chief Counsel expressed specific concern that (1) "the MSQR-5000 does not seem to have any means of automatically controlling wheel slip during braking by sensing, analyzing, and modulating the rate of angular rotation of the wheel," and (2) "the MSQR-5000 also appears to lack any provision for illuminating a warning light providing notification of an [antilock brake system] malfunction." J.A. at 173. NHTSA posted the letter on its website.
Air Brake met with NHTSA as planned on June 12th. At the meeting NHTSA recommended that Air Brake perform certain tests on the brakes. Air Brake conducted the tests and forwarded the results to NHTSA. At the same time, it asked NHTSA to post a letter from Air Brake's counsel on its website so that Air Brake's views about MSQR-5000 and specifically about the brake system's compliance with Standard 121 could be seen by visitors to NHTSA's website alongside the contrary opinion of NHTSA's Chief Counsel. NHTSA never posted the letter.
On August 29, 2001, Air Brake sued Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta and NHTSA (collectively, NHTSA), challenging the...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Hudak v. Elmcr T of Sagamore Hills
...on the issue of complete preemption is not entitled to deference. See Bolton , 535 F.Supp.3d at 721 (citing Air Brake Sys., Inc. v. Mineta , 357 F.3d 632, 642 (6th Cir. 2004) ("only those administrative interpretations that Congress and the agency intend to have the ‘force of law,’ as oppos......
-
Arizona v. Biden
...a party to a "Catch-22," stuck between heavy compliance costs or feared liability, neither of which can be undone. Air Brake Sys. v. Mineta , 357 F.3d 632, 645 (6th Cir. 2004). Viewed through the lens of these "legal effect" considerations, the Guidance likely is not reviewable. Start with ......
-
Nebraska Public Power Dist. v. U.S.
...reviewable by statute,' or (2) a `final agency action for which there is no other adequate remedy in a court'"); Air Brake Sys., Inc. v. Mineta, 357 F.3d 632, 638 (6th Cir.2004) (federal courts may review two types of agency actions: "[1] Agency action made reviewable by statute and [2] fin......
-
Bituminous Cas. Corp. v. Walden Resources, LLC
...to the agency, as opposed to fact-findings made by the agency, are classically non-final for this reason." Air Brake Sys., Inc. v. Mineta, 357 F.3d 632, 639 (6th Cir.2004). Consideration of these principles, as well as of the closely analogous case of Town of Smyrna v. U.S. Army Corps of En......