Heath v. General Motors Corp.

• Decision Date: 08 January 1991
• Docket Number: No. IP 89-910-C.,IP 89-910-C.
• Citation: 756 F. Supp. 1144
• Parties: Martha B. HEATH, as Personal Representative of the Estate of Paul E. Heath, Deceased, Plaintiff, v. GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of Indiana

756 F. Supp. 1144

Martha B. HEATH, as Personal Representative of the Estate of Paul E. Heath, Deceased, Plaintiff, v. GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION, Defendant.

No. IP 89-910-C.

United States District Court, S.D. Indiana, Indianapolis Division.

January 8, 1991.

Robert T. Keen, Jr., Miller Carson & Boxberger, Fort Wayne, Ind., for plaintiff.

Richard A. Huser, Locke Reynolds Boyd & Weisell, Indianapolis, Ind., Steven D. McCormick, Kirkland & Ellis, Chicago, Ill., for defendant.

BARKER, District Judge.

This matter comes before the court on the motion of the defendant, General Motors Corporation ("GM"), for partial summary judgment, filed April 16, 1990. The plaintiff, Martha B. Heath, filed her brief in opposition on June 1, 1990, and GM replied on June 22, 1990. For the reasons set forth below, GM's motion for partial summary judgment is GRANTED.

I. BACKGROUND

The facts pertinent to the court's ruling on the motion for partial summary judgment are not in dispute. On August 18, 1987, plaintiff's decedent, Paul E. Heath, died from head injuries sustained when the 1987 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham he was driving left State Road 32 in Randolph County, Indiana, and struck a tree. The Cadillac was equipped with manual three-point lap-and-shoulder belts in the front outside seats and a dashboard light and buzzer to encourage their use, but not with airbags or other passive restraint devices. Paul Heath's personal representative brought this wrongful death action against GM, the designer and manufacturer of the Cadillac. She claims that GM is strictly liable in tort for placing the Cadillac into the stream of commerce in a defective condition unreasonably dangerous for the use of the ordinary consumer.

The particular theory of recovery on which GM seeks partial summary judgment is the plaintiff's claim that GM should have equipped the Cadillac with a passive restraint device, such as an air bag, and that such equipment would have prevented Paul Heath's death (the "passive restraint claim"). GM argues that this state-law cause of action is preempted by federal law concerning motor vehicle safety.

II. DISCUSSION

A motion for summary judgment cannot be granted unless there are no genuine issues of material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c); Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 247-48, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2509-10, 91 L.Ed.2d 202, 211 (1986). With this principle in mind, the court will consider the legislative and regulatory background of this suit and the arguments of the parties concerning the appropriateness of summary judgment.

A. Federal Legislative and Regulatory Framework

In 1966, in response to the "soaring rate of death and debilitation on our Nation's highways," S.Rep. No. 1301, 89th Cong., 2d Sess. 1, reprinted in 1966 U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News 2709, 2709, Congress enacted the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966, Pub.L. No. 89-563, 80 Stat. 718 (codified as amended at 15 U.S.C. §§ 1381-1431 (1988) the "Safety Act". The purpose of the Safety Act was "to reduce traffic accidents and deaths and injuries to persons resulting from traffic accidents." 15 U.S.C. § 1381. To this end, the Safety Act gave the Department of Transportation the authority to promulgate federal motor vehicle safety standards ("FMVSS"). 15 U.S.C. §§ 1391(2), 1392(a).

The FMVSS concerned in this case is FMVSS 208, entitled "Occupant crash protection." When it was first adopted in 1967, FMVSS 208 required the installation of manual safety belts in all cars. See 32 Fed.Reg. 2408, 2415 (1967). Since then, FMVSS has had "an intricate and contentious history." Wood v. General Motors Corp., 865 F.2d 395, 398 (1st Cir.1988), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 110 S.Ct. 1781, 108 L.Ed.2d 782 (1990); see id. at 398-99; State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Department of Transp., 680 F.2d 206, 209-18 (D.C.Cir.1982) "State Farm I", vacated sub nom. Motor Vehicle Mfrs. Ass'n v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 463 U.S. 29, 103 S.Ct. 2856, 77 L.Ed.2d 443 (1983); State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Dole, 802 F.2d 474, 477-78 (D.C.Cir.1986) "State Farm II", cert. denied, 480 U.S. 951, 107 S.Ct. 1616, 94 L.Ed.2d 800 (1987). The current version, which is also the version in force when Paul Heath's 1987 Cadillac was manufactured, was adopted in 1984. See 49 Fed.Reg. 28,962 (1984) (codified at 49 C.F.R. § 571.208 (1989)). It provides for a gradual phase-in of mandatory passive restraints in all cars. Under this version, car manufacturers had to equip 10% of cars built in the 1987 model year, 25% of cars built in the 1988 model year, 40% of cars built in the 1989 model year and all cars built on or after September 1, 1989, (that is, beginning with the 1990 model year) with passive restraint devices, such as air bags, automatic safety belts or any other passive device that meets certain performance criteria. 49 C.F.R. § 571.208, S4.1.3 — S4.1.4 (1989). The 1984 version was the first version mandating passive restraints that remained in force into the implementation period.¹See State Farm I, 680 F.2d at 209-18 (providing a thorough history of FMVSS, from its beginning, in 1967, through 1981); State Farm II, 802 F.2d at 477-78 (completing the history through the 1984 version of FMVSS, still in force). Previously, car manufacturers always had the option of installing manual safety belts in all of their cars. See, e.g., 49 C.F.R. § 571.208 (1980).

The Safety Act contains two seemingly conflicting provisions. One, the "preemption clause," provides:

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). The other, the "savings clause," provides:

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).

B. Preemption

Through the supremacy clause, U.S. Const. art. VI, cl. 2, courts find that federal legislation or regulations preempt state law under three circumstances: first, state law is expressly preempted when the federal law, by its terms, explicitly states an intention to preempt state law; second, the courts will imply preemption when federal law so pervasively regulates a subject as to reveal an intent to "occupy a given field"; and, third, the courts will imply preemption when the state law "actually conflicts" with the federal law, either because no one could comply with both laws, or because the state law "stands as an obstacle to the accomplishment of the full purposes and objectives" of Congress or the federal agency. Schneidewind v. ANR Pipeline Co., 485 U.S. 293, 299-300, 108 S.Ct. 1145, 1150-51, 99 L.Ed.2d 316 (1988).

GM argues that Martha Heath's passive restraint claim is expressly preempted by the Safety Act's preemption clause and also impliedly so because, if allowed, it would stand as an obstacle to the accomplishment of the federal objectives underlying the Safety Act and FMVSS 208.

Martha Heath, on the other hand, argues not only that the preemption clause does not expressly preempt her common law claim, but also that the savings clause evidences explicit congressional intent to preserve it. Furthermore, she argues that her claim is not impliedly preempted, because potential liability at common law does not present the same conflict with federal purposes as direct state regulation, and because FMVSS 208 describes merely "minimum" standards. For this last point, the plaintiff relies on 15 U.S.C. § 1391(2), which supplies the following definition: "`Motor vehicle safety standards' means a minimum standard for motor vehicle performance, or motor vehicle equipment performance, which is practicable, which meets the need for motor vehicle safety and which provides objective criteria."

1. Express Preemption

A few courts have found the preemption clause expressly to preempt passive restraint claims. See, e.g., Wattelet v. Toyota Motor Corp., 676 F.Supp. 1039, 1040 (D.Mont.1987); Cox v. Baltimore County, 646 F.Supp. 761, 763 (D.Md.1986); Vanover v. Ford Motor Co., 632 F.Supp. 1095, 1096-97 (E.D.Mo.1986); Wickstrom v. Maplewood Toyota, Inc., 416 N.W.2d 838 (Minn.Ct.App. 1987), cert. denied, 487 U.S. 1236, 108 S.Ct. 2905, 101 L.Ed.2d 937 (1988). Many more courts, however, have found passive restraint claims not expressly preempted, because the preemption clause does not explicitly mention common law, and because the savings clause, when considered in combination with the preemption clause, makes ambiguous Congress's intent with respect to preemption of state common law claims. See, e.g., Pokorny v. Ford Motor Co., 902 F.2d 1116 (3d Cir.), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 111 S.Ct. 147, 112 L.Ed.2d 113 (1990); Taylor v. General Motors Corp., 875 F.2d 816 (11th Cir.1989), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 110 S.Ct. 1781, 108 L.Ed.2d 783 (1990); Kitts v. General Motors Corp., 875 F.2d 787 (10th Cir.1989), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 110 S.Ct. 1781, 108 L.Ed.2d 783 (1990); Kolbeck v. General Motors Corp., 702 F.Supp. 532 (E.D.Pa. 1988); Schick v. Chrysler Corp., 675 F.Supp. 1183 (D.S.D.1987); Baird v. General Motors Corp., 654 F.Supp. 28 (N.D. Ohio 1986); Garrett v. Ford Motor Co., 684 F.Supp. 407 (D.Md.1987).

No seventh circuit case addresses the issue of whether passive restraint claims are expressly preempted by the Safety Act. This court is persuaded that the Safety Act, when considered in its entirety, does not express an unambiguous congressional intent to preempt state common law passive restraint claims. By the same token, it does not unambiguously express an intent to preserve such...