RECENT FEDERAL DECISIONS

March 2009

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District Court Uses Doctrine of Issue Preclusion to Bar Parties’ Claim that State Emissions Regulation is Preempted by Federal Law
Lincoln Dodge, Inc. v. Sullivan, ___ F.Supp.2d ___

The U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island granted Defendant Michael Sullivan’s (Director of the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management) motion for judgment on the pleadings holding that two automobile manufactures and two automobile associations were barred from asserting that Rhode Island Air Pollution Control Regulation 37 was preempted by the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975 and the federal Clean Air Act because those claims were already decided and subject to the doctrine of issue preclusion. The court denied the Defendant’s motion for judgment on the pleadings as to the Rhode Island automobile dealer plaintiffs as they were not parties to the prior action in California or Vermont.