United States Fifth Circuit

In an action brought by parents against GM for injuries sustained by their daughter when she was partially ejected from a 2004 Chevrolet Tahoe during a rollover accident, summary judgment for GM is affirmed in part, but reversed in part and remanded where: 1) Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 205 does not preempt a common law tort claim for failing to use advanced glazing in the side windows of the Tahoe; 2) marketing and failure-to-warn claims were also not preempted; and 3) the claim that the Tahoe failed to comply with FMVSS 205 was adequately alleged in plaintiffs' expert report.

Appellate Information

• Decided 11/20/2007
• Published 11/20/2007

Judges

• EDITH BROWN CLEMENT, Circuit Judge:, Before JOLLY, CLEMENT and OWEN, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Fifth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Phillip A. Wittmann (argued), Stone, Pigman, Walther & Wittmann, New Orleans, LA, Leon René Russell, Dallas, TX, Mary Lee Wolff, Patrick M. Ardis, William Edward Brown, Wollf Ardis, Memphis, TN, for Plaintiffs-Appellants., Leslie A. Brueckner, Public Justice, PC, Washington, DC, for Trial Lawyers for Public Justice, Amicus Curiae., H. Christopher Bartolomucci, Hogan & Hartson, Washington, DC, for Alliance of Auto. Mfrs. and Ass'n of Intern. Auto. Mfrs, Inc., Amici Curiae., Kenneth Steven Geller, David Morris Gossett, Erika Ziebarth Jones, Mayer Brown, LLP, Washington, DC, for Product Liability Advisory Council, Inc., Amicus Curiae.


• For Appellees:
  
• Brendan K. McBride (argued), Karl Thomas Rivas, David McDonald Prichard, Prichard, Hawkins, McFarland & Young, San Antonio, TX, for Defendant-Appellee.