Auto Innovators and Maine AG agree to stay lawsuit over Data Law pending 2026 legislative session
A lawsuit filed by the Alliance for Automotive Innovation (Auto Innovators) against Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey has been stayed pending the next legislative session, set to reconvene in January.
Auto Innovators filed suit in January to challenge Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey over the enforcement of the state’s 2023 Data Law because the “independent entity” it calls for “to establish and administer access to vehicle-generated data” via a standardized and owner-authorized platform doesn’t exist. Under the law, effective Jan. 5, 2025, all automakers must provide access to vehicle data via the platform.
The stay was requested by mutual agreement of the parties after Gov. Janet Mills didn’t sign LD 1228 into law before the end of this year’s session after passage by the legislature. Judge Lance E. Walker granted the stay on July 21 and ordered that the parties file a joint status report with the court every 90 days while the stay is in effect.
LD 1228 — “An Act to Clarify Certain Terms in the Automotive Right to Repair Laws,” moved forward in May out of a package of five introduced during the session to amend the new law.
The Maine Joint Committee on Housing and Economic Development’s majority report to amend the Data Law was passed by the legislature in June, 135-12 in the House and 21-14 in the Senate.
The majority report would’ve amended the law to add a definitions section, eliminate the previously proposed “independent entity,” and use telematics language that largely mirrors proposals in the federal Safety as First Emphasis (SAFE) Repair Act championed by automakers and repairers.
In Maine, if legislation isn’t passed by the end of a session, the governor has three days at the beginning of the next session to veto it. If there isn’t a veto, the bill automatically becomes law.
“The parties agree that L.D. 1228, if it becomes law, will have a significant effect on the nature and trajectory of this case, and it may render academic any prior adjudication of the merits of the complaint,” states a joint motion to stay proceedings. “To avoid investing unnecessary time and expense litigating a law that appears likely to change, and to avoid needlessly drawing on the limited resources of this Court, the parties request that the Court exercise its broad discretion to regulate its docket by staying all proceedings in this case until two weeks after the start of a session of the Maine Legislature that lasts for more than three days, when there will be greater clarity on the status of L.D. 1228.”
According to the motion, if, in the interim, the attorney general or a private party files an action against any automaker that is an Auto Innovators member claiming a violation of the Data Law, the stay will be lifted. The stay would also be lifted if Auto Innovators notifies the court of a stated intention to bring such an action.
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