Rex R. Sprietsma, Administrator of the Estate of Jeanne Sprietsma, Deceased v. Mercury Marine, a Division of Brunswick Corporation (537 U.S. 51)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided December 3, 2002 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 537 U.S. 51 · 123 S. Ct. 518
- Docket
- No. 01-706
- Argued
- October 15, 2002
- Decided
- December 3, 2002
- Term
- October Term 2002
- Vote
- 9–0
- Majority author
- Justice Stevens
- Issue area
- Federalism
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
How the Justices voted
- Majority
- Chief Justice Rehnquist, Justice Stevens (wrote), Justice O'Connor, Justice Scalia, Justice Kennedy, Justice Souter, Justice Thomas, Justice Ginsburg, Justice Breyer
Opinion excerpt
Justice Stevens delivered the opinion of the Court. The question presented is whether a state common-law tort action seeking damages from the manufacturer of an outboard motor is pre-empted either by the enactment of the Federal Boat Safety Act of 1971, 46 U. S. C. §§4301-4311 (FBSA, 1971 Act, or Act), or by the decision of the Coast Guard in 1990 not to promulgate a regulation requiring propeller guards on motorboats. I On July 10, 1995, petitioner’s wife, Jeanne Sprietsma, died as a result of a boating accident on an inland lake that spans the Kentucky-Tennessee border. She was riding in an 18-foot ski boat equipped with a 115-horsepower outboard motor manufactured by respondent, Mercury Marine, which is a division of the Brunswick Corporation (Brunswick). Apparently when the boat turned, she fell overboard and was struck by the propeller, suffering fatal injuries. Petitioner filed a nine-count complaint in an Illinois court seeking damages from Brunswick on state-law theories. Each count alleged that Brunswick had manufactured an unreasonably dangerous product because, among other things, the motor was not protected by a propeller guard. The trial court granted respondent’s motion to dismiss, and the intermediate appellate court affirmed on the ground that the action was expressly pre-empted by the FBSA. 312 Ill. App. 3d 1040, 729 N. E. 2d 45 (2000). Relying on our…
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