Crowe v. Fleming

• Decision Date: 05 July 1990
• Docket Number: No. CV489-175.,CV489-175.
• Citation: 749 F. Supp. 1135
• Parties: Fay CROWE, Plaintiff, v. Lloyd D. FLEMING, LGR Trucking, Inc., Transamerica Trailer Leasing, Inc., Canal Insurance Company, and Trailmobile, Inc., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of Georgia

749 F. Supp. 1135

Fay CROWE, Plaintiff, v. Lloyd D. FLEMING, LGR Trucking, Inc., Transamerica Trailer Leasing, Inc., Canal Insurance Company, and Trailmobile, Inc., Defendants.

No. CV489-175.

United States District Court, S.D. Georgia, Savannah Division.

July 5, 1990.

J. Noel Osteen, Billy N. Jones, Hinesville, Ga., Jack E. Carney, Jr., Pembroke, Ga., for plaintiff.

Stanley M. Karsman, Paul W. Painter, Jr., Savannah, Ga., for defendants.

ORDER

EDENFIELD, Chief Judge.

Before the Court are the motions for summary judgment of the defendants Transamerica Trailer Leasing, Inc. ("Transamerica") and Trailmobile, Inc. ("Trailmobile"). For the reasons set forth below, the Court GRANTS the motions.

BACKGROUND

On the night of August 8, 1988, the plaintiff, Fay Crowe, was driving south on Georgia Highway 67. As she approached the intersection of Highway 67 and Interstate Highway 16, defendant Lloyd D. Fleming was backing a tractor-trailer rig from an "on ramp" for I-16 West and across both lanes of Highway 67. Ms. Crowe, apparently unaware of the presence of the tractor-trailer, arrived at the intersection and collided with Mr. Fleming's vehicle. She suffered severe personal injury.

Ms. Crowe filed this action for damages on July 25, 1989. Her original complaint named Mr. Fleming, his employer, LGR Trucking, Inc., Transamerica, the company that had leased the trailer to LGR Trucking, and the Canal Insurance Company, the insurer for each of the other three, as defendants. Subsequently, Ms. Crowe filed an amended complaint naming Trailmobile, the manufacturer of the trailer driven by Mr. Fleming on the night of the accident, as a defendant.¹

In her amended complaint, Ms. Crowe alleges both a negligence and a strict product liability claim. She contends that the movants, Transamerica and Trailmobile, negligently failed to provide adequate reflective materials along the trailer's sides, failed to warn the plaintiff of the insufficient lighting, and that Trailmobile, specifically, designed and manufactured a defective and unreasonably dangerous product, unsuitable for its intended use.

Both Transamerica and Trailmobile have moved for summary judgment, primarily contending that the plaintiff's claim is preempted by federal law.

SUMMARY JUDGMENT

Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56(c), summary judgment is only appropriate where no genuine issue of fact exists and the prevailing party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Adickes v. S.H. Kress & Co., 398 U.S. 144, 159-60, 90 S.Ct. 1598, 1609-10, 26 L.Ed.2d 142 (1970). If the record presents factual issues, "the Court must not decide them; it must deny the motion and proceed to trial." Clemons v. Dougherty County, 684 F.2d 1365, 1369 (11th Cir.1982). Where the decision rests on the meaning of the words of a statute or regulation, however, disposition of the case by summary judgment is proper. Pacific Supply Co-op. v. Shell Oil Co., 697 F.2d 1084, 1089 (Temp.Emer.Ct.App.1982); see also State of Oklahoma, Department of Human Services v. Weinberger, 741 F.2d 290, 291 (10th Cir.1983); Union Pac. Land Resources Corp. v. Moench Inv. Co., 696 F.2d 88, 93 n. 5 (10th Cir.1982).

ANALYSIS

I. Pre-emption

Ms. Crowe's theory of recovery is that, despite the defendants' compliance with federal safety regulations, the tractor-trailer manufactured and leased by them was defective. The defendants, on the other hand, argue that the plaintiff's claim for damages is pre-empted by federal law.

The supremacy clause, U.S. Const. art. VI, cl. 2, requires that conflicts between state and federal law be resolved in favor of federal rule. The clause thus prohibits the enforcement of any state law that conflicts with the exercise of federal power. See, e.g., Fidelity Fed. Sav. & Loan Ass'n v. de La Cuesta, 458 U.S. 141, 152-53, 102 S.Ct. 3014, 3022, 73 L.Ed.2d 664 (1982). Regulations promulgated by federal agencies under a statutory authorization have the force of federal law and can pre-empt conflicting state law. de La Cuesta, 458 U.S. at 153-54, 102 S.Ct. at 3022-23; Hillsborough County v. Automated Medical Laboratories, Inc., 471 U.S. 707, 713, 105 S.Ct. 2371, 2375, 85 L.Ed.2d 714 (1985). Additionally, the imposition of damages under a state tort law claim is a form of state regulation subject to the supremacy clause. San Diego Bldg. Trades Council v. Garmon, 359 U.S. 236, 247, 79 S.Ct. 773, 780-81, 3 L.Ed.2d 775 (1959); Stephen v. American Brands, Inc., 825 F.2d 312 (11th Cir.1987).

Federal law may pre-empt state law in three ways. First, Congress may expressly pre-empt state law by using language to that effect in a statute. Hillsborough County, 471 U.S. at 713, 105 S.Ct. at 2375; Taylor v. General Motors Corp., 875 F.2d 816, 822 (11th Cir.1989). Second, the text of a statute or its legislative history may evince a congressional intent to occupy a regulatory field to the exclusion of state law, despite the absence of express pre-emptive language. International Paper Co. v. Ouellette, 479 U.S. 481, 492, 107 S.Ct. 805, 811-12, 93 L.Ed.2d 883 (1987); Rice v. Santa Fe Elevator Corp., 331 U.S. 218, 230, 67 S.Ct. 1146, 1152, 91 L.Ed. 1447 (1947). Last, even if Congress has not occupied a given regulatory field completely, state law is pre-empted to the extent that it conflicts with federal law. For example, a state law is pre-empted if the regulated party cannot comply with both state and federal regulation. Hillsborough County, 471 U.S. at 713, 105 S.Ct. at 2375. Or, if a state law is an obstacle to the accomplishment and execution of the full purposes and objectives of Congress by interfering with the methods employed in the federal scheme, the state law is likewise pre-empted. Michigan Canners & Freezers Ass'n, Inc. v. Agricultural Marketing & Bargaining Bd., 467 U.S. 461, 477-78, 104 S.Ct. 2518, 2527-28, 81 L.Ed.2d 399 (1984); Ouellette, 479 U.S. at 494, 107 S.Ct. at 813.

Congress passed the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1381, 1391-1431 (1982) ("the Safety Act"), in 1966 to address the growing problem of injury and death on the nation's highways. See S.Rep. No. 1301, 89th Cong., 2d Sess. 1, reprinted in 1966 U.S. Code Cong. & Admin.News 2709. The Safety Act authorized first the Department of Transportation and later the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration to promulgate Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards ("FMVSS") for vehicles and vehicular equipment in an attempt to increase automotive safety. 15 U.S.C. §§ 1391(2), 1392(a). The statute also contains the following provision:

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 item of equipment which is not identical to the Federal standard....

15 U.S.C. § 1392(d). This provision reflects the belief of Congress that the safety standards have to be uniform throughout the country to be effective. See S.Rep., 1966 U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News at 2720.

Notwithstanding the above pre-emption provision, the Safety Act also includes the following "savings clause":

Compliance with any Federal motor vehicle safety standard issued under this subchapter does not exempt any person from any liability under common law.

15 U.S.C. § 1397(k).² Thus, the language of the Safety Act sends conflicting signals regarding congressional intent to pre-empt state law in this field.

Noting the ambiguity of the statutory text, the Eleventh Circuit recently addressed the pre-emptive status of the Safety Act. In Taylor v. General Motors Corp., 875 F.2d 816 (11th Cir.1989), the plaintiff brought an action against an automobile manufacturer, alleging that her car was defectively designed because it did not contain air bags. Under the applicable safety standard in effect at the time of the plaintiff's accident, car manufacturers had the option to include either passive restraints alone, passive restraints plus lap belts, or manual seat belts in their vehicles. The defendant had complied with the federal standard by designing the plaintiff's car with manual seat belts. The court held that the plaintiff's claim was pre-empted.

Initially, the court found that Congress had not expressly pre-empted state regulation of motor vehicles and highway safety, given the conflict between the pre-emption provision and the savings clause in the statute. The court did hold, however, that the Safety Act implicitly pre-empted state law to the extent that state regulation potentially frustrated the federal administrative scheme. Id. at 825-27; accord Howard v. Uniroyal, Inc., 719 F.2d 1552, 1561 (11th Cir.1983). Under federal regulation, the defendant had the option to refrain from designing a car with air bags. If the plaintiff prevailed on her state tort law claim, the flexibility afforded to the defendant by federal law would be restricted. "A state common law rule cannot take away the flexibility provided by a federal regulation and cannot prohibit the exercise of a federally granted option." Id. at 827 (citing Fidelity Fed. Sav. & Loan Ass'n v. de La Cuesta, 458 U.S. 141, 155, 102 S.Ct. 3014, 3023, 73 L.Ed.2d 664 (1982)).

In a case factually indistinguishable from Taylor, the First Circuit also held that a state tort claim based on the failure to include air bags in an automobile was pre-empted by federal safety regulations. Woods v. General Motors Corp., 865 F.2d 395 (1st Cir.1988). The court prescribed a two-step analysis to determine whether a state tort claim is pre-empted by a federal motor vehicle safety standard. The defendant must show: 1) that the plaintiff's theory of recovery is directed at the same "aspect of performance" as the applicable standard;³ and 2) that the theory of recovery is of...