Sprietsma v. Mercury Marine
Plaintiff sued Mercury Marine after his wife fell from a motorboat, was struck by the motor’s propeller blades, and suffered serious injuries that resulted in her death. The boat’s outboard motor, which was designed, manufactured and sold by Mercury Marine, did not have a propeller guard. The circuit court dismissed plaintiff’s claim and the appellate court affirmed. The Supreme Court of Illinois affirmed, holding that the Federal Boat Safety Act (FBSA) impliedly preempted plaintiff’s common law claims for failure to install propeller guards: ” the Coast Guard's failure to promulgate a propeller guard requirement here equates to a ruling that no such regulation is appropriate pursuant to the policy of the FBSA.”
Question Presented:
Whether petitioner's state common-law tort action, based on respondent's failure to install a propeller guard on a motorboat, is preempted by the FBSA, or by the decision of the Secretary of
Transportation in 1990 to take no regulatory action to require the installation of propeller guards on recreational boats.
