Rogers Ex Rel. Rogers v. Cosco, Inc.

• Decision Date: 02 November 2000
• Docket Number: No. 03A05-9911-CV-486.,03A05-9911-CV-486.
• Citation: 737 N.E.2d 1158
• Parties: Jaqueria Marie ROGERS, by and through her mother and next friend, Shelette S. ROGERS, Appellant-Plaintiff, v. COSCO, INC., Appellee-Defendant.
• Court: Indiana Appellate Court

737 N.E.2d 1158

Jaqueria Marie ROGERS, by and through her mother and next friend, Shelette S. ROGERS, Appellant-Plaintiff, v. COSCO, INC., Appellee-Defendant.

No. 03A05-9911-CV-486.

Court of Appeals of Indiana.

November 2, 2000.

Rehearing Denied December 7, 2000.

Harry M. Philo, Linda Miller Atkinson, Detroit, Michigan, Douglas J. Fees, Huntsville, Alabama, Peter Campbell King, Columbus, Indiana, Attorneys for Appellant.

Randall R. Riggs, Julia Blackwell Gelinas, Kevin C. Schiferl, T. Joseph Wendt, Indianapolis, Indiana, Attorneys for Appellee.

OPINION

RATLIFF, Senior Judge

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

Plaintiff-Appellant JaQueria Marie Rogers ("JaQueria"), by and through her mother and next friend, Shelette S. Rogers ("Rogers"), appeals the trial court's grant of summary judgment in favor of Defendant-Appellee Cosco, Inc. ("Cosco").

We reverse and remand for further proceedings.¹

ISSUES

We address the following issues:

I. Whether Rogers's state court action is pre-empted by the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act.

II. Whether Rogers designated evidence sufficient to rebut the statutory presumption set forth in Ind.Code § 34-20-5-1.

III. Whether there is a genuine issue of material fact as to the existence of a safer alternative product.²

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

In March or April of 1996, Rogers purchased a Cosco Grand Explorer booster restraint seat ("Grand Explorer"). The Grand Explorer exhibits a seating platform that "boosts" or raises the child from a motor vehicle's seat. The Grand Explorer does not extend up to provide a separate support for a child's back or head, but utilizes the motor vehicle's own upright seat cushion for this function. It also employs a forward barrier, called a shield, to restrain forward motion of a child's upper torso in the event of a collision.

On May 12, 1996, JaQueria, Rogers's thirty pound, twenty-two-month old daughter, was seated in the Grand Explorer as a passenger in the back seat of a Toyota Tercel. The Grand Explorer was secured by the lap-belt component of the rear seat-belt.

As the Tercel proceeded down a North Carolina highway, it was struck head-on by a vehicle driven by a drunk driver. The Grand Explorer restrained JaQueria, leaving her seated in the same position as prior to impact. However, JaQueria suffered two cervical fractures from the acceleration/deceleration forces caused by the collision. JaQueria is partially paralyzed as a result of her injuries.

Rogers filed a complaint for damages on behalf of JaQueria.³ The complaint alleged that Cosco was negligent in designing, manufacturing, distributing, and selling a booster seat that was not crashworthy. The complaint also alleged that Cosco failed to exercise reasonable care when it allowed the Grand Explorer to leave its control without adequate warnings or instructions.⁴ In short, Rogers alleged that Cosco violated its duty of reasonable care when it designed, manufactured, distributed, and sold the Grand Explorer for use by children who weigh less than forty pounds, and that it violated its duty in not warning purchasers that there was no testing to substantiate Cosco's claim that the Grand Explorer could be safely used by children who weigh between thirty and sixty pounds. Rogers's complaint also included a claim for punitive damages.

Cosco filed a motion for summary judgment and supporting brief, claiming that the Federal National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act ("Safety Act") and a safety regulation promulgated thereunder pre-empted Rogers's state law claims. Cosco also claimed that there was no evidence to overcome the rebuttable presumption set forth in Ind.Code § 34-20-5-1 and that Cosco therefore was not negligent as a matter of law. Cosco further claimed that there is no safer alternative design in existence, which must result in a finding, as a matter of law, that the design of the Grand Explorer was not deficient. Finally, Cosco claimed that Rogers's punitive damage claim should fail as a matter of law. The trial court granted Cosco's motion for summary judgment. In doing so, the court noted its belief that Rogers's state law claims were pre-empted by the Safety Act and that the Grand Explorer was presumed not to be deficient under Ind.Code § 34-20-5-1. The court further noted its belief that Rogers's failed, as a matter of law, to establish her punitive damage claim. Rogers now appeals.

DISCUSSION AND DECISION

I. PRE-EMPTION UNDER THE SAFETY ACT

Rogers contends that the trial court erred in determining that her state court action is pre-empted by the Safety Act. The purpose of the Safety Act is "to reduce traffic accidents and death and injuries to persons resulting from traffic accidents." 49 U.S.C. § 30101. Two provisions of the Safety Act are particularly relevant to the issue of pre-emption. First, the Safety Act contains a pre-emption clause that states in pertinent part:

When a motor vehicle safety standard is in effect under this chapter, a State or a political subdivision of the State may prescribe or continue in effect a standard applicable to the same aspect of performance of a motor vehicle or motor vehicle equipment only if the standard is identical to the standard prescribed under this chapter.

49 U.S.C. § 30103(b)(1). Second, as a specific exception to the pre-emption clause, the Safety Act contains a state common law savings clause which states that "[c]ompliance with a motor vehicle safety standard under this chapter does not exempt a person from liability at common law." 49 U.S.C. § 30103(e).

The responsibility of developing and promulgating federal motor vehicle safety standards under the Safety Act was given first to the Secretary of Transportation and later to the Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. 49 C.F.R. § 1.50(a). The parties agree that the applicable federal standard is 49 C.F.R. § 571.213, which is denominated by the parties as Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 213 ("FMVSS 213"). FMVSS 213 allows a manufacturer to meet its performance criteria regarding child restraint systems through the use of booster seats, and it contains both minimum performance and specific design requirements for child booster seats. FMVSS 213 also allows a manufacturer to meet upper torso child restraint standards through the use of a forward barrier, such as the shield placed on Cosco's Grand Explorer. It further allows manufacturers to market booster seats for use by children under forty pounds. See FMVSS 213, § 5.5.2(f) (stating that "the booster seat shall not be recommended for children whose masses are less than 13.6 kg [approximately thirty pounds]").

The pre-emption doctrine is grounded in the Supremacy Clause of Article Six of the United States Constitution, which establishes federal law as the supreme law of the land. See U.S. Const. Art. VI, cl. 2. Our analysis of the scope of the statute's pre-emption is guided by the principle that "[t]he purpose of Congress is the ultimate touchstone in every pre-emption case." Medtronic, Inc. v. Lohr, 518 U.S. 470, 116 S.Ct. 2240, 2250, 135 L.Ed.2d 700 (1996). Any understanding of the scope of a pre-emption statute must rest primarily on "a fair understanding of congressional purpose," as discerned from the language of the pre-emption statute and the "statutory framework" surrounding it. Id. at 2250-51. Also relevant to the analysis is the "structure and purpose of the statute as a whole, as revealed not only in the text, but through the reviewing court's reasoned understanding of the way in which Congress intended the statute and its surrounding regulatory scheme to affect business, consumers, and the law." Id. at 2251. (quotations omitted). Administrative regulations promulgated pursuant to congressional authorization have the same pre-emptive effect as federal statutes. York v. Union Carbide Corp., 586 N.E.2d 861, 865 (Ind.Ct.App.1992).

Courts do not lightly attribute to Congress or to a federal agency the intent to pre-empt state or local laws. Hendricks County Bd. of Zoning Appeals v. Barlow, 656 N.E.2d 481, 484 (Ind.Ct. App.1995). The historic police powers of the states are not to be superseded by federal law unless that was the clear and manifest purpose of Congress. Train Collision at Gary, Ind. on Jan. 18, 1993, 670 N.E.2d 902, 910 (Ind.Ct.App.1996), trans. denied, 683 N.E.2d 591 (1997), cert. denied, 522 U.S. 914, 118 S.Ct. 299, 139 L.Ed.2d 230. The intent of Congress may be "express," i.e., expressly stated in the statute, or "implied," i.e., implicitly stated in the statute's structure and purpose. Ziobron v. Crawford, 667 N.E.2d 202, 206 (Ind.Ct.App.1996), trans. denied.⁵ Implied pre-emption is manifested when a state law conflicts with federal law. This "implied conflict pre-emption" occurs either where it is impossible to comply with both federal and state or local law, or where state law stands as an obstacle to the accomplishment and execution of federal purposes and objectives. In re Guardianship of Wade, 711 N.E.2d 851, 854 (Ind.Ct. App.1999).

1. Express Pre-emption

In the present case, Cosco does not claim that the Safety Act's pre-emption and savings clauses, when read together, expressly pre-empt a state common law claim. Instead, Cosco contends that the savings clause is rendered inapplicable in Indiana by the legislature's decision to include products liability common law negligence actions within the framework of the products liability statute. Specifically, Cosco refers to Ind.Code § 34-20-1-1, which states that the products liability statute governs all actions that are (1) brought by a user or consumer; (2) against a manufacturer or seller; and (3) for physical harm caused by a product. Ind.Code § 34-20-1-1 further states that the products liability statute governs "regardless of the substantive legal theory or theories upon which the action is brought."

In determining whether the Safety Act's savings clause has been rendered...