Industry Wire

TRALA Defends Industry in MN Vicarious Liability Case

TRALA is filing an amicus brief with the Minnesota Supreme Court in support of the vehicle renting and leasing industry in a vicarious liability case. To date TRALA has filed six such “friend of the court” briefs on behalf of the industry since the August 2005 passage of the federal law known as the Graves Amendment (49 US 30106). In five of those cases the courts have agreed with TRALA’s position and ruled in the industry’s favor by affirming the authority of the Graves Amendment to preempt state vicarious liability laws. One case is still pending.

In the Minnesota case, Meyer v. Enterprise, the plaintiff is arguing that Minnesota’s statute limiting vicarious liability for owners of rental vehicles is a financial responsibility statute preserved by the Graves Amendment. The Minnesota statute in question limits vicarious liability exposure to 100,000/300,000/50,000 as long as the rental vehicle had insurance coverage of at least those amounts. TRALA is arguing that the Graves Amendment only preserves a state’s ability to impose minimum levels of financial responsibility for the privilege of operating and registering a vehicle. The District Court and the Minnesota Court of Appeals have both agreed with the TRALA position. A copy of the Court of Appeals opinion can be read here: MN Court of Appeals Opinion.

TRALA and the industry have successfully defended the authority of the Graves Amendment to preempt similar contingent caps on vicarious liability in Florida. Both the Florida Supreme Court (Kumarsingh v. Avis) and the United States Court of Appeals (Garcia v. Vangaurd) have affirmed that such caps are not insurance statutes preserved by the Graves Amendment.