ELR Citation: ELR 20288
No(s). 06-70T (D.R.I. Nov 24, 2008)

A district court held that automobile manufacturers and trade associations may not go forward with their lawsuit seeking to preempt Rhode Island's adoption of the California greenhouse gas emissions standard for new motor vehicles. The manufacturers' and associations' claims are barred by the doctrine of collateral estoppel because the preemption issues they raise were decided in previous cases they brought in California and Vermont. Auto dealers, however, may proceed with their case. The dealers were not parties in the previous cases, and any franchise relationship between the dealers and the manufacturers does not support a finding of the type of "legal substantive relationship" justifying the application of nonparty issue preclusion. Nor were the dealers adequately represented in the previous cases, and the record does not show that the dealers are acting as proxies for the manufacturers and associations.