Koons Ford of Baltimore, Inc. v. Lobach

919 A.2d 722, 398 Md. 38, 2007 Md. LEXIS 115
CourtCourt of Appeals of Maryland
DecidedMarch 20, 2007
Docket66, September Term, 2006
StatusPublished
Cited by40 cases

This text of 919 A.2d 722 (Koons Ford of Baltimore, Inc. v. Lobach) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Koons Ford of Baltimore, Inc. v. Lobach, 919 A.2d 722, 398 Md. 38, 2007 Md. LEXIS 115 (Md. 2007).

Opinions

GREENE, J.

This case is an appeal from the Circuit Court for Baltimore County. William and Raymond Lobach purchased a vehicle from Koons Ford of Baltimore, Inc. (“Koons Ford”) and, after discovering defects in that vehicle, filed a complaint against [40]*40Koons Ford in the Circuit Court, alleging, inter alia, that Koons Ford violated the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act (“MMWA”), 15 U.S.C. § 2301 et seq. Koons Ford contends that the claim must be submitted to binding arbitration because, as part of the purchase, William and Raymond signed a buyer’s order that contained a binding arbitration clause, and arbitration is expressly favored by the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”), 9 U.S.C. § 1 et. seq. Raymond argues that the MMWA prohibits the forced resolution of claims through binding arbitration, and, therefore, the FAA does not apply. He also claims that the arbitration clause must be included in the warranty document to be enforceable under the single document rule.

We conclude that, under the MMWA, claimants may not be forced to resolve their claims through binding arbitration because Congress expressed an intent to preclude binding arbitration when it enacted the MMWA. The FAA does not supersede the MMWA. Because of our resolution of this case, we need not address the parties’ dispute over the single document rule.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

On October 20, 2001, William Lobach went to the Koons Ford dealership on Security Boulevard in Baltimore, Maryland, with the intention of purchasing a vehicle. William’s father, Raymond Lobach, accompanied William to the dealership. A sales representative presented William and Raymond with a 2001 Ford Escort, which William ultimately purchased. Raymond was a co-signer on the purchase. As part of the transaction, William and Raymond signed several documents, including a double-sided buyer’s order; both men signed both sides of the buyer’s order. The reverse side of the buyer’s order contained the following provision:

10. WE AGREE THAT ANY CLAIM, DISPUTE OR CONTROVERSY DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY RELATING TO THIS AGREEMENT OR TO ANY VEHICLE INVOLVED HEREIN SHALL BE RESOLVED BY BINDING ARBITRATION THROUGH THE NATIONAL [41]*41ARBITRATION FORUM, UNDER ITS CODE OF PROCEDURE THEN IN EFFECT. RULES AND FORMS OF THE NATIONAL ARBITRATION FORUM MAY BE OBTAINED AND ALL CLAIMS SHALL BE FILED AT ANY NATIONAL ARBITRATION FORUM OFFICE, www.arb-fomm.com OR PO BOX 50191, MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA 55405. THIS AGREEMENT IS MADE PURSUANT TO A TRANSACTION INVOLVING INTERSTATE COMMERCE, AND SHALL BE GOVERNED BY THE FEDERAL ARBITRATION ACT, 9 U.S.C. SECTIONS 1-16. JUDGMENT UPON ANY AWARD MAY BE ENTERED IN ANY COURT HAVING JURISDICTION. THE PARTIES ACKNOWLEDGE THAT THEY HAVE KNOWINGLY WAIVED THEIR RIGHTS TO A JUDGE OR JURY TRIAL. NOTHING HEREIN SHALL BE CONSTRUED TO PREVENT EITHER PARTY’S USE OF REPOSESSION, REPLEVIN, DETINUE OR ANY OTHER REMEDY, WITH OR WITHOUT JUDICIAL PROCESS, CONCERNING ANY COLLATERAL, SECURITY OR PROPERTY INTEREST RELATING TO THIS AGREEMENT, NOR SHALL ANYTHING HEREIN BE CONSTRUED TO LIMIT ANY REMEDIES UNDER THE MARYLAND AUTOMOTIVE WARRANTY ENFORCEMENT ACT, OR THE MAGNUSON MOSS ACT.

On April 20, 2005, Raymond, individually, and as next of kin to William,1 filed a complaint in the Circuit Court for Baltimore County against Koons Ford. According to the complaint, after taking possession of the Ford Escort, the buyers discovered defects in, and undisclosed prior damage to, the vehicle; specifically, water began leaking into the interior of the car and into the trunk. The complaint alleged violation of the MMWA (Count I),2 violation of the Maryland Consumer Protection Act (“MCPA”) § 13-301(1) (Count II), violation of the [42]*42MCPA § 13-301(9) (Count III), breach of contract (Count IV), violation of the Maryland Commercial Law Code § 12-1005 (Count V), fraud (Count VI), and a derivative action against Suntrust Bank for all of the aforementioned claims (Count VII). On June 3, 2005, Koons Ford filed a Petition for Order to Arbitrate and Dismissal of Complaint, requesting that the Circuit Court stay the case so that the claims could be submitted to arbitration pursuant to the provisions in the buyer’s order.

A motions hearing was held on August 26, 2005, and the Circuit Court denied Koons. Ford’s petition without prejudice.3 On September 26, 2005, Koons Ford filed an Amended Petition for Order to Arbitrate and Dismissal of Complaint, with an attached affidavit, requesting the same relief as the original petition. On March 10, 2006, the Circuit Court granted Koons Ford’s Amended Petition for Order to Arbitrate as to Counts II through VI, and denied it with respect to Count I.4, On April [43]*4310, 2006, Koons Ford filed its Notice of Appeal to the Court of Special Appeals.5 *****II.On September 13, 2006, while the appeal was pending in the intermediate appellate court, this Court issued a writ of certiorari on its own motion. Koons Ford v. Lobach, 394 Md. 478, 906 A.2d 942 (2006).

DISCUSSION

Koons Ford contends that under the FAA, arbitration agreements are enforceable absent a showing that Congress intended to override the FAA by precluding binding arbitration for claims arising under a particular statute. Koons Fords explains that under the test articulated in Shearson/American Express, Inc. v. McMahon, 482 U.S. 220, 227, 107 S.Ct. 2332, 2337-38, 96 L.Ed.2d 185, 194 (1987), the congressional intent “‘will be deducible from [the statute’s] text or legislative history’ or from an ‘inherent conflict between arbitration and the statute’s underlying purposes.’” Koons Ford contends (1) that neither the text nor legislative history of the MMWA indicates that Congress intended to [44]*44preclude binding arbitration, (2) that the MMWA explicitly allows informal dispute settlement procedures but that there is no mention that Congress intended binding arbitration to be considered an informal dispute settlement mechanism, (3) that binding arbitration does not conflict with the purposes of the MMWA because enforcement of a binding arbitration clause “would have no effect on the ability of a consumer to vindicate his or her substantive rights under the MMWA,” (4) that there exist several cases to support this proposition, and (5) that the regulations, promulgated by the FTC pursuant to the MMWA, stating that any informal dispute settlement mechanism must not be binding, is unreasonable “because it relies on a conclusion, rejected by many courts, that binding arbitration is considered an informal dispute settlement mechanism.” 6

In addition, Koons Ford argues that under the single document rule, a warrantor is required to include certain disclosures pertaining to a warranty in one document but that the FTC regulations make no mention of the inclusion of binding arbitration clauses in that one document. Instead, according to Koons Ford, the regulations require that the warranty document contain “[ijnformation respecting the availability of any informal dispute settlement mechanism” and binding arbitration is not an informal dispute settlement mechanism.

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Bluebook (online)
919 A.2d 722, 398 Md. 38, 2007 Md. LEXIS 115, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/koons-ford-of-baltimore-inc-v-lobach-md-2007.