23.22 Preemption

• Jurisdiction: Arizona

23.22 Preemption. Certain federal statutes may preempt state court product liability actions under the theories of express, field, or implied preemption.⁵⁰⁰ In determining whether a particular claim has been preempted, the courts have held that “Federal law preempts state law under the Supremacy Clause when Congress expressly so provides, the federal law so thoroughly occupies the field that it leaves no room for state law, or state law actually conflicts with federal law.”⁵⁰¹ An actual conflict occurs when it is impossible to comply with both state and federal law or where state law stands as an obstacle to the accomplishment and execution of the full purposes and objectives of Congress.⁵⁰²

The Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, for example, impliedly preempt certain product liability actions against vehicle manufacturers.⁵⁰³ Similarly, the 1969 amendment to the Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act partially preempts state failure-to-warn claims against cigarette manufacturers.⁵⁰⁴

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Notes:

^[500] See Hutto v. Francisco, 210 Ariz. 88, 107 P.3d 934 (App 2005). For examples of preempted claims, see also Talbott v. C.R. Bard, Inc., 63 F.3d 25 (1st Cir.1995) (all state law product liability and breach of warranty claims preempted); Mendes v. Medtronic, Inc., 18 F.3d 13 (1st Cir.1994) (negligence and breach of warranty claims based on failure to warn and manufacturing defect preempted); King v. Collagen Corp., 983 F.2d 1130 (1993) (strict liability, implied warranty of merchantability, negligent design, manufacture, marketing and sale, misbranding or mislabeling, failure to warn, and express warranty claims preempted); English v. Mentor Corp., 67 F.3d 477 (3d Cir.1995) (all state law claims preempted except express warranty); Gile v. Optical Radiation Corp., 22 F.3d 540 (3d Cir.), cert. denied, 513 U.S. 965, 115 S...