Turner v. Pfs Corporation

674 So. 2d 60, 1995 Ala. LEXIS 407, 1995 WL 614102
CourtSupreme Court of Alabama
DecidedOctober 13, 1995
Docket1931169
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 674 So. 2d 60 (Turner v. Pfs Corporation) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Turner v. Pfs Corporation, 674 So. 2d 60, 1995 Ala. LEXIS 407, 1995 WL 614102 (Ala. 1995).

Opinions

SHORES, Justice.

This case concerns whether the regulations and requirements of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”) preempt the plaintiffs state law tort claims alleging injury as a result of the faulty design and manufacture of a mobile home. The trial court held that 24 C.F.R. § 3282.11 preempts all claims by the plaintiff and en[62]*62tered a summary judgment for the defendant, PFS Corporation. We reverse and remand.

The plaintiff, Kenneth B. Turner, was employed as a transit truck driver with Mays Enterprises. On April 7, 1987, he was rendered a paraplegic by personal injuries he sustained when the semi-tractor and manufactured home he was driving failed to stop and he ran into a culvert. The manufactured home was equipped with five axles, but only one was a braking axle. Turner sued PFS Corporation, which was licensed by HUD as a “design approval plant inspection agency” (“DAPIA”) and as an “in-plant inspection agency” (“IPIA”) to ensure that manufacturers complied with rules and regulations promulgated by HUD. Turner alleged that in approving the braking design of the subject manufactured home, PFS Corporation had acted negligently and/or wantonly and had violated HUD standards and good engineering practices.

A. Preemption

The HUD regulations at issue were promulgated pursuant to the National Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards Act of 1974, 42 U.S.C. §§ 5401-5426 (NMHCSSA). The trial court agreed with the defendant PFS that the federal law preempts Turner’s state law tort claims. Considering both the NMHCSSA and the HUD regulations, we hold that Turner’s claims are not preempted.

Preemption is the exception to the general rule that federal law does not displace existing state law. Congress must clearly manifest a purpose to supersede the common law of the states for preemption to apply. Cipollone v. Liggett Group, Inc., 505 U.S. 504, 515, 112 S.Ct. 2608, 2617, 120 L.Ed.2d 407 (1992). When Congress enacts an explicit provision on preemption and that provision supplies a “ ‘reliable indicium of congressional intent with respect to state authority,’ ... ‘there is no need to infer congressional intent to pre-empt state laws from the substantive provisions’ of the legislation.” Cipollone, 505 U.S. at 517, 112 S.Ct. at 2618 (citations omitted). In those circumstances, a court “need only identify the domain expressly pre-empted” by that provision. Id.

The express provision in the NMHCSSA, along with the explicit HUD regulation, defines the preemptive reach of federal regulation. See Scurlock v. City of Lynn Haven, Fla., 858 F.2d 1521, 1523 (11th Cir.1988) (holding a city ordinance preempted by 24 C.F.R. § 3282.11); Woolridge v. Redman Homes, Inc., 792 F.Supp. 1469 (N.D.Tex.1991); Shorter v. Champion Home Builders Co., 776 F.Supp. 333 (N.D.Ohio 1991). Section 5403(d) of the NMHCSSA provides:

“Whenever a Federal manufactured home construction and safety standard established under this chapter is in effect, no State or political subdivision of a State shall have any authority either to establish, or to continue in effect, with respect to any manufactured home covered, any standard regarding the construction or safety applicable to the same aspect of performance of such manufactured home which is not identical to the Federal manufactured home construction and safety'standard.”

Turner has put forth no allegations, arguments, or evidence concerning any state standards regarding manufactured homes. His claims are founded in tort, but the claims are based on the theory that PFS Corporation negligently and/or wantonly failed to comply with the federal HUD standards. He does not attempt to place greater safety requirements upon PFS Corporation than those imposed under the federal regulations. Rather, his claims assert a failure to comply with the federal standards themselves.

Significantly, § 5409(c) of the NMHCSSA provides that “[cjompliance with any Federal manufactured home construction or safety standard issued under this chapter does not exempt any person from any liability under common law.” Read together, this section and § 5403(d) “preempt state law standards, but do not preempt most state law claims.” Shorter v. Champion Home Builders Co., 776 F.Supp. at 337-38. See also Mizner v. North River Homes, 913 S.W.2d 23 (Mo.App.1995) (finding no preemption of common law claims by the NMHCSSA).

[63]*63The test for determining whether Turner’s specific claims are preempted can be found in the preemption regulation1 at issue here, 24 C.F.R. § 3282.11,2 which, at the time of the events involved in this case, read as follows:

“(a) No state manufactured home standard regarding manufactured home construction and safety which covers aspects of the manufactured home governed by the Federal standards shall be established or continue in effect with respect to manufactured homes subject to the Federal standards and these regulations unless it is identical to the Federal standards.
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“(e) No State or locality may establish or enforce any rule or regulation or take any action that stands as an obstacle to the accomplishment and execution of the full purposes and objectives of Congress.. The test of whether a State rule or action is valid or must give way is whether the State rule can he enforced or the action taken without impairing the Federal superintendence of the manufactured home industry as established by the Act.”3

(Emphasis added.) The regulation can be understood t.o address common law rules as well as legislative rules. See Cipollone v. Liggett Group, 505 U.S. 504, 521-22, 112 S.Ct. 2608, 2620, 120 L.Ed.2d 407 (1992) (preemption of state “requirements or prohibitions” includes common law claims). Turner’s claims are not preempted, however, because enforcing the federal standards through state tort law does not frustrate federal supervision of the industry.4 The availability of tort claims may serve to increase compliance by the industry. Thus, only claims that impose different state standards are preempted. See also Woolridge v. Redman Homes, Inc., 792 F.Supp. 1469 (N.D.Tex.1991) (no preemption under NMHCSSA of identical state standards).

B. The Summary Judgment Standard

Rule 56, A.R.Civ.P., sets forth a two-tiered standard for determining whether to enter a summary judgment.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
674 So. 2d 60, 1995 Ala. LEXIS 407, 1995 WL 614102, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/turner-v-pfs-corporation-ala-1995.