Medtronic, Inc. v. Lohr, 518 U.S. 470, 39 (1996)

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508

MEDTRONIC, INC. v. LOHR

Opinion of Breyer, J.

scheme of federal regulation is "so pervasive as to make reasonable the inference that Congress left no room for the States to supplement it," Rice v. Santa Fe Elevator Corp., 331 U. S. 218, 230 (1947). See, e. g., Barnett Bank, 517 U. S., at 31; Gade v. National Solid Wastes Management Assn., 505 U. S. 88, 98 (1992) (opinion of O'Connor, J.); Wisconsin Public Intervenor v. Mortier, 501 U. S. 597, 604-605 (1991); English v. General Elec. Co., 496 U. S. 72, 79 (1990).

It makes sense, in the absence of any indication of a contrary congressional (or agency) intent, to read the preemption statute (and the pre-emption regulation) in light of these basic pre-emption principles. The statutory terms "different from" and "in addition to" readily lend themselves to such a reading, for their language parallels pre-emption law's basic concerns. Without any contrary indication from the agency, one might also interpret the regulation's word "divergent" in light of these same basic pre-emption principles.

Insofar as these basic principles inform a court's interpretation of the statute and regulation, they support the conclusion that there is no pre-emption here. I can find no actual conflict between any federal requirement and any of the liability-creating premises of the plaintiffs' state-law tort suit; nor, for the reasons discussed above, can I find any indication that either Congress or the FDA intended the relevant FDA regulations to occupy entirely any relevant field.

For these reasons, I concur in the Court's judgment. I also join the Court's opinion, but for Parts IV and VI. I do not join Part IV, which emphasizes the differences between the MDA and the pre-emption statute at issue in Cipollone, because those differences are not, in my view, relevant in this action. I do not join Part VI, because I am not convinced that future incidents of MDA pre-emption of common-law claims will be "few" or "rare," ante, at 502.

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