Geier v. American Honda Motor Co., 529 U.S. 861, 37 (2000)

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Cite as: 529 U. S. 861 (2000)

Stevens, J., dissenting

amendment that "[n]o requirement or prohibition . . . shall be imposed under State law" did include certain common-law claims. Id., at 548-549 (Scalia, J., concurring in judgment in part and dissenting in part).13 In CSX Transp., Inc. v. Easterwood, where the pre-emption clause of the Federal Railroad Safety Act of 1970 expressly provided that federal railroad safety regulations would pre-empt any incompatible state " 'law, rule, regulation, order, or standard relating to railroad safety,' " 14 we held that a federal regulation governing maximum train speed pre-empted a negligence claim that a speed under the federal maximum was excessive. And in Medtronic, Inc. v. Lohr, we recognized that the statutory reference to "any requirement" imposed by a State or its political subdivisions may include common-law duties. 518 U. S., at 502-503 (plurality opinion); id., at 503-505 (Breyer, J., concurring in part and concurring in judgment); id., at 509-512 (O'Connor, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part).

The statutes construed in those cases differed from the Safety Act in two significant respects. First, the language in each of those pre-emption provisions was significantly broader than the text of § 1392(d). Unlike the broader language of those provisions, the ordinary meaning of the term "safety standard" includes positive enactments, but does not include judicial decisions in common-law tort cases.

Second, the statutes at issue in Cipollone, CSX, and Medtronic did not contain a saving clause expressly preserving common-law remedies. The saving clause in the Safety Act

13 The full text of the 1969 provision read: " 'No requirement or prohibition based on smoking and health shall be imposed under State law with respect to the advertising or promotion of any cigarettes the packages of which are labeled in conformity with the provisions of this Act.' " 505 U. S., at 515 (quoting Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act of 1969, 84 Stat. 88).

14 507 U. S., at 664 (quoting § 205, 84 Stat. 972, as amended, 45 U. S. C. § 434 (1988 ed. and Supp. II)).

897

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