Cox v. Baltimore County

• Decision Date: 26 September 1986
• Docket Number: Civ. No. JFM-84-3062.
• Parties: Elaine B. COX v. BALTIMORE COUNTY, et al.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Maryland

646 F. Supp. 761

Elaine B. COX v. BALTIMORE COUNTY, et al.

Civ. No. JFM-84-3062.

United States District Court, D. Maryland.

September 26, 1986.

Christopher Mangold, Landover, Md., and Joseph H. Koonz, Jr., Washington, D.C., for plaintiff.

Malcolm F. Spicer, Jr., Towson, Md., Robert E. Powell and Richard Woods, Baltimore, Md., for defendants.

MEMORANDUM

MOTZ, District Judge.

On April 15, 1983, Robert M. Creasey, a criminal in high-speed flight from the police, smashed the stolen car he was driving into a 1975 Pinto and killed its driver, James R. Cox, Jr. Cox's wife, children and estate seek recovery for his wrongful death. They have sued Creasey, alleging that he drove his car negligently. They have sued the police officer who was chasing Creasey, alleging that he was negligent in his pursuit. They have sued the County and the police department, alleging that they negligently hired, trained and supervised the police officer. They have sued the owner of the stolen car, alleging that he was negligent in not locking the doors. Finally, they have sued Ford Motor Company, the manufacturer of the car, alleging that the Pinto was uncrashworthy.

Among the claims asserted by plaintiffs against Ford is that the Pinto was uncrashworthy because it did not contain air bags. Ford has moved for partial summary judgment as to that claim. The issue presented is whether a state law tort claim for uncrashworthiness based upon the lack of airbags is preempted by the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act ("the Safety Act.").¹

The Safety Act, enacted by Congress in 1966, directs the Secretary of Transportation to prescribe federal motor vehicle safety standards that "meet the need for motor vehicle safety." 15 U.S.C. Section 1392(a). In 1967 the Department of Transportation adopted Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 208 requiring the installation of seat belts in automobiles. In 1970 this Safety Standard was amended to include a set of injury criteria that had to be met by some form of passive restraint system, including but not limited to airbags, for all occupant positions of all cars manufactured after July 1974. Over the last twelve years this Safety Standard has been amended and its implementation date postponed many times. The federal regulations and statutes in effect in 1975, at the time that Mr. Cox's Pinto was manufactured by Ford, specifically authorized manufacturers to use three-point seat belts to meet the then existing injury criteria. Airbags were not decreed. In fact, the legislation in effect in 1975 prohibited the creation of a national airbag requirement without congressional clearance.²

The Safety Act contains a preemption provision which states as follows:

Whenever a Federal motor vehicle safety standard established under this subchapter is in effect, no State or political subdivision of a State shall have any authority either to establish, or to continue in effect, with respect to any motor vehicle or item of motor vehicle equipment any safety standard applicable to the same aspect of performance of such vehicle or items of equipment which is not identical to the Federal standard. Nothing in this section shall be construed as preventing any state from enforcing any safety standard which is identical to a Federal safety standard. Nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent the Federal Government or the government of any State or political subdivision thereof from establishing a safety requirement applicable to motor vehicles or motor vehicle equipment procured for its own use if such requirement imposes a higher standard of performance than that required to comply with the otherwise applicable Federal standard.

15 U.S.C. Section 1392(d). Ford contends that this provision, in conjunction with Safety Standard 208 and the provisions of 15 U.S.C. Section 1410b(b)-(d), prohibiting the Department of Transportation from requiring airbags without Congressional approval, constitutes an express preemption of the states' ability to impose any sort of airbag requirement. Ford relies upon Vanover v. Ford Motor Co., 632 F.Supp. 1095 (E.D.Mo.1986), the only federal case which has addressed the issue.³

Plaintiffs contend that there is no express preemption because a jury hearing a tort case is not a "State or political subdivision of a State" and because a common law rule of tort law permitting recovery of money damages for the lack of airbags is not a "safety standard." These arguments are without merit. Obviously, a jury verdict must be based upon the law which governs it and the "establishment" of the "safety standard" is not the return of the verdict itself but the rendering of a judicial decision sustaining it. Incontrovertibly, the latter constitutes state action. See, e.g., New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254, 265, 84 S.Ct. 710, 718, 11 L.Ed.2d 686 (1964); Robinson v. Florida, 378 U.S. 153, 156, 84 S.Ct. 1693, 1695, 12 L.Ed.2d 771 (1964). Likewise, there is nothing in the language of the Safety Act or in its legislative history to suggest that the term "safety standard" is intended to encompass only standards adopted by a regulatory body. A rule of the common law which permits the recovery of monetary damages for its breach self-evidently sets a standard and has been held to be a form of state regulation subject to the supremacy clause. See San Diego Building Trades Council v. Garmon, 359 U.S. 236, 79 S.Ct. 773, 3 L.Ed.2d 775 (1959).

Ford further argues that assuming that Section 1392(d) does not expressly preempt a state common law tort rule permitting recovery for the absence of airbags,...