Gonzalez v. Ideal Tile Importing Co.

877 A.2d 1247, 184 N.J. 415, 21 OSHC (BNA) 1177, 2005 N.J. LEXIS 933
CourtSupreme Court of New Jersey
DecidedJuly 27, 2005
StatusPublished
Cited by36 cases

This text of 877 A.2d 1247 (Gonzalez v. Ideal Tile Importing Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of New Jersey primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gonzalez v. Ideal Tile Importing Co., 877 A.2d 1247, 184 N.J. 415, 21 OSHC (BNA) 1177, 2005 N.J. LEXIS 933 (N.J. 2005).

Opinions

PER CURIAM.

Plaintiff, Armando Gonzalez, was seriously injured when he was struck by a forklift operated by a co-worker. He sued the [418]*418forklift’s first-stage manufacturer (defendant Komatsu), contending that it should have installed additional warning devices on the machine in order to make its operation safe.1 Komatsu moved for summary judgment on the ground that state tort claims for workplace injuries are preempted when the allegedly defective product was manufactured in compliance with federal standards. The motion was granted.

Plaintiff appealed, contending that the relevant federal standard, the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA), only applies to employers and not to manufacturers, thus rendering preemption inapplicable. In a reported opinion, a divided panel of the Appellate Division affirmed. Gonzalez v. Ideal Tile Importing, Inc., 371 N.J.Super. 349, 853 A.2d 298 (App.Div.2004). In ruling, the court concluded that it did not need to determine OSHA’s reach because both parties proceeded on the assumption that Komatsu was bound by OSHA’s forklift standards. Id. at 360, 853 A.2d 298. Therefore, the majority assumed, without deciding, that OSHA’s forklift regulations were binding on Komatsu and not just informative or evidential of the standard of care applicable to the manufacturer or seller. Ibid.

The majority next addressed whether plaintiffs state tort claim was preempted by federal law and concluded that the state regulation urged by plaintiff would stand “as an obstacle to the accomplishment and execution of’ the federal regulation regarding additional warning devices, and thus determined that plaintiffs product liability theory was preempted as in conflict with the federal standard. Id. at 362, 853 A.2d 298.

One judge dissented. He disagreed with “the majority’s understanding that plaintiffs accepted the premise that OSHA’s standards govern product manufacturers because they failed to argue that OSHA applies only to employers.” Id. at 371, 853 A.2d 298. Instead, he opined that plaintiffs’ position on that issue was “clearly inferable” from their argument that OSHA does not [419]*419preempt third-party tort claims. Ibid. The dissenter went on to conclude that Komatsu’s preemption argument was without merit because OSHA only applies to employers and not to manufacturers. Ibid. The ease came to us as of right because of the dissent. We have carefully reviewed this record in light of the claims advanced by the parties regarding preemption and now affirm.

A few comments are in order, however. First, we agree with the dissenting judge that plaintiffs’ position that OSHA regulations only apply to employers was clearly in the case from the beginning as an integral implication of the argument that OSHA does not preempt third-party tort claims. We also agree with his opinion to the extent that it can be read to hold that some third-party claims arising in the workplace may not be preempted by OSHA. We part company from him in connection with his blanket conclusion that OSHA can never preempt a third-party tort claim.

Preemption may be express or implied and is compelled whether Congress’ command is explicitly stated in the statute’s language or implicitly contained in its structure and purpose. Absent explicit preemptive language, [the United States Supreme Court] has recognized at least two types of implied pre-emption: field pre-emption, where the scheme of federal regulation is so pervasive as to make reasonable the inference that Congress left no room for the States to supplement it, and conflict pre-emption, where compliance with both federal and state regulations is a physical impossibility, or where state law stands as an obstacle to the accomplishment and execution of the full purposes and objectives of Congress.
[Gads v. Nat’l Wastes Mgmt. Ass’n, 505 U.S. 88, 98, 112 S.Ct. 2374, 2383, 120 L.Ed.2d 73, 84 (1992)(internal citations and quotations omitted).]

Express preemption is determined from an examination of the explicit language used by Congress. Jones v. Rath Packing Co., 430 U.S. 519, 525, 97 S.Ct. 1305, 1309, 51 L.Ed.2d 604, 613 (1977). In this case, the OSHA statute governs on the question of express preemption. OSHA contains a saving clause that provides:

Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to supersede or in any manner affect any workmen’s compensation law or to enlarge or diminish or affect in any other manner the common law or statutory rights, duties, or liabilities of employers and employees under any law with respect to injuries, diseases, or death of employees arising out of, or in the course of, employment.
[420]*420[29 U.S.C.A § 653(b)(4).]

OSHA also contains a preemption clause that states that “[n]othing in this [Act] shall prevent any State agency or court from asserting jurisdiction under State law over any occupational safety or health issue with respect to which no standard is in effect.” 29 U.S.C.A. § 667(a).

The United States Supreme Court has discussed the interplay between analogous saving and preemption clauses, concluding that the preemption clause should be read narrowly:

Without the saving clause, a broad reading of the express pre-emption provision arguably might pre-empt those actions, for, as we have just mentioned, it is possible to read the pre-emption provision, standing alone, as applying to standards imposed in common-law tort actions, as well as standards contained in state legislation or regulations. And if so, it would pre-empt all nonidentical state standards established in tort actions covering the same aspect of performance as an applicable federal standard, even if the federal standard merely established a minimum standard. On that broad reading of the pre-emption clause little, if any, potential “liability at common law” would remain. And few, if any, state tort actions would remain for the saving clause to save. We have found no convincing indication that Congress wanted to pre-empt, not only state statutes and regulations, but also common-law tort actions, in such circumstances. Hence the broad reading cannot be correct. The language of the pre-emption provision permits a narrow reading that excludes common-law actions. Given the presence of the saving clause, we conclude that the pre-emption clause must be so read.
[Geier v. Am. Honda Motor Co., 529 U.S. 861, 868, 120 S.Ct. 1913, 1918, 146 L.Ed.2d 914, 923 (2000).]

By that reasoning, as the Appellate Division properly held, under OSHA, state tort actions are not expressly preempted.

We turn next to field preemption, which, as the United States Supreme Court has said, occurs “where the scheme of federal regulation is ‘so pervasive as to make reasonable the inference that Congress left no room for the States to supplement it.’ ” Gade, supra, 505 U.S. at 98, 112

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Bluebook (online)
877 A.2d 1247, 184 N.J. 415, 21 OSHC (BNA) 1177, 2005 N.J. LEXIS 933, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gonzalez-v-ideal-tile-importing-co-nj-2005.