Massachusetts Right to Repair Case Appears Nearly Ripe for Decision

The Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office and the Alliance for Automotive Innovation quietly filed a stipulation the day after Thanksgiving in Alliance for Automotive Innovation v. Healy, a lawsuit challenging recent amendments to the Massachusetts Right to Repair Law (the “Data Law”). The stipulation appears to resolve an evidentiary dispute that arose between the parties in October concerning the ability of OEMs to comply with recent amendments to the Data Law. With the exception perhaps of responses to interrogatories served by the Attorney General on Auto Innovators, the stipulation also would seem to address the issues that have been preventing a Massachusetts federal district court judge from issuing his long-awaited decision following a bench trial held last summer.

The lawsuit filed by Auto Innovators seeks an injunction barring enforcement of the Data Law and its requirement 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” that will enable customers and independent repair shops to access mechanical data from those systems. In a stipulation filed on Friday, November 26, the Attorney General and Auto Innovators agreed that Subaru of America is a member of Auto Innovators and is the supplier of Subaru vehicles to another independently owned and operated entity that distributes those vehicles to other independently owned and operated dealers in New England. The parties further stipulated that as a direct result of the Data Law, Subaru decided that it will not make its Starlink system—a telematics system that “includes features such as automatic collision notification, SOS emergency assistance, remote engine start, remote door lock/unlock, stolen vehicle recovery, enhanced roadside assistance, maintenance notification, vehicle health reports, and diagnostic reports”—available to Massachusetts residents who purchase or lease MY22 Subaru vehicles.

According to the stipulation, Subaru implemented this policy in or about June 2021, contemporaneously with MY22 Subaru vehicles first being offered for sale or lease in Massachusetts. The policy applies to any MY22 Subaru vehicle that has a Massachusetts address associated with either the vehicle or the Starlink account; regardless of the state where the vehicle was originally purchased or leased, Massachusetts-associated vehicles are not able to subscribe to or maintain a subscription to Starlink. The policy does not apply to MY22 Subaru vehicles that do not have a Massachusetts address associated with either the vehicle or the Starlink account; regardless of the state where the vehicle was originally purchased or leased, non-Massachusetts-associated vehicles retain the ability to subscribe to or maintain a subscription to Starlink. The parties further stipulated that Subaru vehicles not enrolled in the Starlink system are safe; that at the time the vehicles are sold to consumers, those vehicles comply with all applicable Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards and the Clean Air Act; and that if Auto Innovators prevails in the pending lawsuit and “the [Data Law] is invalidated by the Court,” then Subaru intends to begin offering Starlink subscriptions on MY22 vehicles in Massachusetts.

With the exception perhaps of responses to interrogatories served by the Attorney General on Auto Innovators, the stipulation appears to resolve the issues raised in a motion filed by the Attorney General on October 25 seeking to reopen evidence in the case to show that OEMs can comply with the Data Law by disabling telematics systems in MY22 and later vehicles sold in Massachusetts.  Prior to the filing of that motion, the court had told the parties that it would render a decision in the case by November 2, but at an October 27 hearing, the court directed the parties to propose how they might further supplement the record.  With the record now supplemented by stipulation, the record before the court would seem to be almost complete and the case nearly ripe for decision.  In the meantime, legislation amending the Data Law to extend the compliance deadline until MY25 remains under review by a committee of the Massachusetts Legislature.