Massachusetts Right to Repair Law: One More Delay on Decision

Citing the need to “consider fully the implications of the long anticipated decision” in West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency—which was not issued by the U.S. Supreme Court until the last day of its term on June 30, 2022—the Massachusetts federal court in Alliance for Automotive Innovation v. Healy issued a notice on July 1, 2022 informing the parties that the court would not be able to meet a self-imposed deadline to issue a decision by that date on a challenge brought by an industry trade association to a right to repair ballot initiative passed by Massachusetts voters in November 2020.

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.

In the July 1, 2022 Notice, the court advised that the delay in issuing a decision “is not anticipated to extend beyond the grace notice period” set forth in a stipulation filed by the Massachusetts Attorney General on April 22, 2022.  In that stipulation, the Massachusetts Attorney General advised that her office would not enforce the Massachusetts Right to Repair Law until the court rules on the pending challenge, and that it would not do so without first providing 14 days’ advance notice.  It therefore appears that the court anticipates issuing a decision no later than July 15, 2022.