Opinion ID: 1286594
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Distilling the various principles of implied conflict preemption

Text: We now turn again to the parties' arguments, which can now be better viewed in the fluctuating light of the current state of implied conflict preemption jurisprudence. Mr. Morgan asserts that his glazing defect suit is not preempted by FMVSS 205. He contends that this Court should follow the decisions in O'Hara v. General Motors Corp., supra , and Sprietsma v. Mercury Marine, supra , and hold that Geier v. American Honda stands for the principle that a common law rule which would force manufacturers to adopt a particular design option is preempted only when a federal safety standard deliberately leaves manufacturers with a choice among designated design options in order to further a clearly defined federal policy. Mr. Morgan asserts that FMVSS 205 does not offer manufacturers choices among different glazing options in order to further a clearly defined federal policy. Instead, Mr. Morgan points out that FMVSS 205 sets forth simple, base line testing guidelines for manufacturers to ensure glazing is safe for use in vehicles, and argues that there is little history and background indicating a congressional intent mandating that manufacturers be permitted to choose glazing materials that are, under state law, unreasonably safe for their intended use. The only public policy clearly expressed in the agency's history when adopting FMVSS 205 is increasing the clarity and usability of the standard. O'Hara, 508 F.3d at 761. Further, as for the NHTSA's decision to consider requiring advanced glazing materials to prevent passenger ejections and later decision not to adopt any new regulations, the plaintiff argues that under Sprietsma, the decision not to require advanced glazing materials did not convey an authoritative message of a federal policy against state common-law actions mandating that form of safety equipment in motor vehicles. Ford continues to take the position that the plaintiff's suit is preempted by FMVSS 205. Ford argues that, like the passive restraint options in FMVSS 208 that were considered in Geier v. American Honda , FMVSS 205 gives manufacturers a list of optional glazing materials to choose among. Under FMVSS 208, the NHTSA had rejected a proposed FMVSS 208 `all airbag' standard because of safety concerns (perceived or real) associated with airbags, 529 U.S. at 879, 120 S.Ct. 1913; under FMVSS 205, the agency had rejected a proposed standard requiring advanced glazing in side and rear windows, in part because of safety concerns arising from a slight increase in neck injuries. Ford therefore asserts that this Court should find that the NHTSA deliberately provided the manufacturer with a range of choices among different glazing materials, and that those choices would bring about a mix of different devices that should lower costs, overcome technical safety problems, encourage technological development, and win widespread consumer acceptance[.] Geier, 529 U.S. at 875, 120 S.Ct. 1913. We discern that we are stuck between a rock and a jurisprudential hard place. On the one hand, the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Wyeth v. Levine suggests that Geier has a limited interpretationthat conflict preemption may only be inferred when there is an extensive contemporaneous history, and detailed agency explanations, showing a federal scheme that would be obstructed by the plaintiff's tort claim. Ford has presented us with little agency history to support a policy indicating that FMVSS 205 was intended to preempt state common law actions, and we have no agency explanations identifying a clear federal objective that would be corrupted by allowing the plaintiff to proceed. And finally, the only other appellate court to directly consider the questionthe Fifth Circuit in O'Hara has conclusively ruled that FMVSS 205 establishes only a floor for safe glazing equipment, and does not preempt a state court suit seeking to establish a ceiling. [14] On the other hand, several state and federal trial courts across the country have ruled that any interpretation of the preemptive effect of FMVSS 205 is controlled by Geier's purposes and objectives analysis. In agency pronouncements about altering the objectives of FMVSS 205, NHTSA has indicated that glazing other than tempered glass can increase the risk of neck injuries in accidents. Courts have therefore concluded that a state tort law, which imposes liability based upon a manufacturer's choice to use the tempered glass option allowed by FMVSS 205, is an obstacle to the accomplishment and execution of the full purposes and objectives of Congress, and therefore is federally preempted. FMVSS 205 permits the manufacturer to make a choice between available safety options for side-window glass; a design defect claim would foreclose choosing one of those options. We understand that the instant case seeks to impose liability for only one of the options allowed by FMVSS 205. But actions in the courts of each of West Virginia's 55 counties could theoretically, one-by-one, eliminate all of the options offered under FMVSS 205. In the worse case, regulation by juries could, in a piecemeal fashion, eviscerate the unitary federal regulation and leave manufacturers with no options for glazing materials in vehicle side windows. We therefore conclude that the circuit court in the instant case did not err in finding that the plaintiff's claim was preempted by FMVSS 205. We believeas Justice Thomas noted in Levine that Geier is flawed because it requires courts to look beyond the properly-enacted federal statute or law and divine an agency's intent from extraneous materials to determine the preemptive effect of a regulation. Still, we are compelled to find that our decision must be controlled by Geier, because the NHTSA made a public policy decision to not mandate advanced glazing in side windows because of safety concerns that advanced glazing has a slightly increased risk of neck injuries. Geier is, until altered or explicated by the United States Supreme Court, the guiding law of the land. We therefore find that because the NHTSA gave manufacturers the option to choose to install either tempered glass or laminated glass in side windows of vehicles in FMVSS 205, permitting the plaintiff to proceed with a state tort action would foreclose that choice and would interfere with federal policy.