Rex Chainbelt, Inc. v. Brinegar

• Decision Date: 10 March 1975
• Docket Number: No. 74--1309,74--1309
• Citation: 511 F.2d 1215
• Parties: REX CHAINBELT, INC., Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Claude S. BRINEGAR, Secretary, Department of Transportation, et al., Defendants-Appellants.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

Page 1215

511 F.2d 1215

REX CHAINBELT, INC., Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Claude S. BRINEGAR, Secretary, Department of Transportation,

et al., Defendants-Appellants.

No. 74--1309.

United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit.

Argued Feb. 11, 1975.

Decided March 10, 1975.

Thomas S. Moore, Atty., App. Section, Civ. Div., U.S. Dept. of Justice, Washington, D.C., for defendants-appellants.

Andrew O. Riteris, Edward W. Mentzer, Milwaukee, Wis., for plaintiff-appellee.

Before PELL, Circuit Judge, TONE, Circuit Judge, and JAMESON, Senior District Judge. ^*

PER CURIAM.

The sole issue on this appeal is whether the judgment of the district court on remand is in accordance with the opinion of this court in Rex Chainbelt, Inc. v. Volpe, 486 F.2d 757 (7 Cir. 1973).

Rex Chainbelt, Inc., plaintiff-appellee, is engaged in the manufacture of concrete mixers which are designed to be mounted on truck chassis-cabs. Rex sells the mixers and normally installs the mixer on a chassis which is purchased by the customer from a manufacturer other than Rex.

In 1971 the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) issued regulations under the authority of the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966 dealing with motor vehicles manufactured in two or more stages. Regulation 49 C.F.R. § 568.6(b) required Rex, as the final stage manufacturer (49 C.F.R. § 568.3), to certify that the entire vehicle--chassis-cab and mixer--conformed to all applicable federal motor safety standards.

In Rex Chainbelt, Inc. v. Volpe, supra at 761--762, this court concluded that the 'Secretary has power under the Act to require manufacturers not working through distributors and dealers to certify their vehicles or their equipment,' but that 'to the extent that the regulations require Rex to make the sole certification of compliance of the entire vehicle . . . They must be declared invalid.'

On remand, the district court entered the following judgment:

'Ordered and adjudged that Section 568.6(b) of Part 568 of Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations is invalid because it contravenes the language of the National Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966 . . . to the extent that said Section is interpreted to require that a final stage manufacturer, as a concrete mixer manufacturer or his dealer or distributor, certify the compliance of the chassis-cab and its components to motor vehicle safety standards in those instances where the final-stage manufacturer mounts the mixer on a...