Bridgestone in ‘Class-Action’ Lawsuit

An American law firm has filed a federal class-action lawsuit against Bridgestone Firestone North American Tires LLC and Bridgestone Firestone Corp, seeking damages and the recall of 30 million Firestone Steeltex tyres the firms says are defective. The action, filed last week in Los Angeles Federal Court by Lisoni & Lisoni, involves Firestone Steeltex R4S, R4SII and A/T tyres, local newspaper, The Whittier Daily News reported.

“This case has been going on for five years, and pursuant to President Bush’s request that these big class actions be filed in federal court, we put it in federal court,” said Joseph L Lisoni, who operates the law firm along with his wife, Gail. Legal proceedings originally began at Riverside Superior Court, on 12 August 2002.

According to Mr Lisoni, the National Highway Traffic & Safety Administration has on three occasions denied Lisoni & Lisoni’s petitions to recall the tyres, but instead settled for the recall of 490,000 Firestone Steeltex A/T tyres in February 2004.

Mr Lisoni said Firestone Steeltex tyres are failing all over the country, causing property damage, injury accidents and more than 50 deaths to date. The class action alleges that in early 1995, Bridgestone Firestone began a “radical cost-cutting campaign’ that resulted in “de-engineered” tyres that were inferior.

Furthermore, the manufacturer is alleged to have engaged in a campaign of “falsely describing defect-related failures as having been caused by impact damage, road hazards, under-inflation, over-inflation and a myriad of other causes not relating to their own defective design and manufacture of the subject tyre brands.”

“We have nine former executives from Firestone all involved in quality control who were terminated or resigned when they reported problems,” Mr Lisoni said. “Firestone refused to do anything.”

Bridgestone Firestone officials responded to Lisoni’s allegations in a company statement. “This new filing is another attempt by Mr Lisoni to forum shop a claim that has already been rejected twice by another court,” the company said. “As the court pointed out in Mr. Lisoni’s last failed attempt, Mr Lisoni did not present any adequate evidence to support class-action certification.”

The statement additionally said Firestone Steeltex tyres are performing well on the road in many instances better than peer tyres in the same mixed-duty applications.

“We are committed to safety and focused on quality,” the statement continued. “We are constantly evaluating our tyres and are committed to taking action if it is warranted. There is no basis for action with Steeltex tyres.”