Opinion ID: 202158
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The VIN and date of service requirement and the 180-day submission deadline

Text: 51 As noted above, after nearly a year of negotiating with Darling's concerning the information required for a supplemental claim, and after repeatedly reminding Darling's of the 180-day submission deadline provided in the Service Manual, GM denied several of Darling's supplemental claims as untimely. When Darling's retaliated by submitting short form claims omitting the VIN and date of service, GM denied those as well. GM's amended complaint sought declarations that § 1176 does not bar GM from requiring Darling's to include the VIN and date of service with each supplemental claim, and that GM is not obligated to pay any warranty reimbursement claim that is not submitted within 180 days of the repair. Darling's countered that its short form claims provided all the information required by Maine law. Darling's also argued that the only deadline for the submission of a warranty reimbursement claim is set forth in the statute of limitations provision of the Dealer Act. See Me.Rev.Stat. Ann. tit. 10, § 1183 (setting a four-year limitation period for [a]ctions arising out of any provision of the Dealer Act). Thus, Darling's sought damages for the over $122,000 in warranty claims denied by GM. 52 With regard to 180-day submission deadline, the district court granted GM's motion for judgment on the pleadings, holding that the 180-day limit set forth in the Service Manual is binding on the parties as to both initial warranty claims and supplemental claims. In so doing, the court rejected Darling's argument that the Dealer Act's limitation period sets the time period for submitting a claim for reimbursement. Cf. Darling's-Ford II, 719 A.2d at 117 (answering certified questions posed by the federal district court in Darling's-Ford I, and holding that because § 1176 does not bar a manufacturer from imposing a reasonable time limit for warranty submissions, the district court was correct in concluding that Ford's 180-day limit was permissible under the statute). 11 Following the bench trial, the court also upheld GM's contractual right to require the VIN and date of service as part of a 'sufficiently individualized' claim. GM-Darling's I, 324 F.Supp.2d at 274. The court found that GM had a reasonable basis for requiring the VIN and date of service, and that Darling's refusal to provide such readily available information was unreasonable. Id. at 273. 53 On appeal, Darling's abandons its argument that the statute's limitations period sets the claims submission deadline. Instead, it presents a new argument that attempts to distinguish the present case from Darling's-Ford I and Darling's-Ford II by arguing that its late claim submissions were justified by GM's delay in creating a supplemental claims procedure. Darling's contends that, because GM did not provide it with a mechanism within which to bring its ongoing and past due warranty reimbursement rights to the attention of GM, we should not enforce GM's 180-day submission deadline. As this argument was not raised below, we do not consider it now. See B & T Masonry Constr. Co. v. Pub. Serv. Mut. Ins. Co., 382 F.3d 36, 40 (1st Cir.2004) (holding that in the absence of extraordinary circumstances, legal theories not raised squarely in the lower court cannot be broached for the first time on appeal) (quotation omitted). 12 54 With respect to the VIN and date of service dispute, Darling's hinges its argument on a faulty interpretation of the SJC's opinion in Darling's-Ford II. Darling's contends that the SJC set forth a definitive statement of what information the statute requires a dealer to include in its claims for reimbursement: (1) the original computerized claim number, (2) the retail amount claimed, (3) the amount the dealer received under the uniform nationwide system, (4) the nature of the claim (i.e., parts or labor), and (5) the difference between the amount received and the retail price. See 719 A.2d at 114-15. 13 Because the SJC did not include the VIN and date of service in this list, Darling's argues, the statute does not require such information to accompany its supplemental claims. 55 Darling's argument is again premised on the faulty assumption that GM can only exercise rights vis-á-vis its dealers that are expressly provided for in the statute. This is not so. We agree with the district court's interpretation of Darling's-Ford II. The SJC's opinion does not suggest that the five items considered in that case were the only items that a manufacturer could require a dealer to provide in its warranty reimbursement claims. See GM-Darling's I, 324 F.Supp.2d at 273 n. 14; Darling's-Ford II, 719 A.2d at 114-15. Again, where the statute does not expressly regulate a particular issue, we will not interpret it to control an area that is governed by the terms of a dealer-manufacturer agreement. See supra at 109-10. 56 The district court supportably found that, under the Dealer Agreement, GM has a right to such information and assistance as may reasonably be requested by [GM] to facilitate compliance with applicable laws, regulations, investigations and orders relating to products. GM-Darling's I, 324 F.Supp.2d at 266, 274 (quoting the Dealer Agreement). The Dealer Agreement further provides that the refusal to provide such information constitutes a breach. See id. Thus, although the statute may not require Darling's to submit the VIN and date of service with its supplemental claims, the GM-Darling's Agreement does require it so long as the request is reasonable. 57 We conclude that the court's finding — that inclusion of the VIN and date of service on supplemental claims greatly facilitates the claims administration process while imposing only a marginal burden on Darling's — was not clearly erroneous. See id. at 273. The evidence establishes that the most efficient way for GM to pinpoint a particular repair is through use of the VIN and date of service. Moreover, Darling's warranty administrator acknowledged that it is actually less burdensome for Darling's to provide the VIN and date of service data because omission of that data requires the extra step of creating a short form claim. Given the added administrative efficiencies, and the lack of any burden imposed on Darling's, we hold that GM may reasonably require Darling's to furnish the VIN and date of service with each supplemental claim, and that, pursuant to the GM-Darling's Agreement, Darling's is not entitled to reimbursement where such information is withheld.