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Chipping Away at State Tort Remedies or Merely Clarifying Pre-emption Jurisprudence: Geier v. American Honda Motor Company |
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Alexander K. Haas |
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| In Geier v. American Honda Motor Co., the United States Supreme Court held that a minimum federal motor vehicle safety standard, relating to the passive restraint devices in automobiles, pre-empted a private tort suit under state law. This Casenote argues that while this holding clarifies existing pre-emption jurisprudence, the Court’s decision runs contrary to the Rehnquist Court’s recent federalism jurisprudence and betrays indi-vidual rights in an area of traditional state control. Moreover, the majority reached this decision to pre-empt contrary to the plain language in the statute and through an unprecedented reliance on legislative history, thereby opening the door to greater pre-emption of state common-law claims. Finally, this Casenote suggests two legislative means of preserving state common-law claims in the wake of Geier. | |
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Copyright
© 2001 by California Law Review, Inc. |
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