Judge Again Postpones Decision In Massachusetts Right to Repair Case

On April 15, 2022, the Massachusetts federal court in Alliance for Automotive Innovation v. Healy issued a procedural order informing the parties that the court would need another two and a half months to issue a decision on a challenge brought by an industry trade association to a right to repair ballot initiative passed by Massachusetts voters in November 2020.  Citing the “complexities” of the case and the “resurgence of a demanding criminal trial schedule,” Judge Douglas Woodlock said that he would need until July 1, 2022 to issue a final decision.

The case involves a challenge to the Massachusetts Right to Repair Law, which requires that commencing with Model Year 2022 (MY22), vehicles sold in Massachusetts using telematics systems be equipped with “an inter-operable, standardized and open access platform” to enable customers and independent repair shops to access mechanical data from those systems.  The court held a week-long bench trial last June, during which the industry offered evidence that compliance with these requirements by MY22 would be impossible, while the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office argued that automakers could comply with the new law by simply disabling telematics systems installed in vehicles sold in Massachusetts. 

It appeared at the time that the court would enter a ruling soon after the trial, but the Massachusetts Attorney General sought and obtained leave to reopen evidence in the case in October 2021, pointing to the decision by some manufacturers to disable the telematics systems in MY22 vehicles sold in Massachusetts as evidence that it was not impossible for OEMs to comply with the new law. After receiving further evidence from the parties in January 2022, the court had previously advised the parties that he expected to issue a decision by March 7, 2022, and subsequently extended that self-imposed deadline until April 15, 2022. 

Meanwhile, pending legislation that would push the deadline for OEMs to comply with the Right to Repair Law until Model Year 2025 appears to have stalled in the Massachusetts Legislature.  In early February, Senate Bill 239 and a number of other bills were referred for study to the Joint Committee on Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure, suggesting that it is unlikely that the Legislature will take up the bill in the current session.