Toyo sued in 2006 fatal crash claims

Toyo is currently in the High Court answering a claim for damages by siblings Dharmendra Joshi and Joshi Divya, who were passengers in a car whose tyre blew out on the M4 in Wales on 25 June, 2006. One of their fellow passengers, 26 year-old Neha Bhatt, was killed in the accident after being thrown from the Mitsubishi Pajero jeep, which reports say “flipped at least ten times”. Mr Justice Mackay established that the “tyre tread separated from the rest of the tyre along about half of its circumference, resulting in the loss of control and causing this terrible accident”. The point of contention is whether the tyre was defective, as the six survivors of the crash claim, or whether there was an impact “that triggered some progressive rapid stripping of the tread”, as Toyo contends. The hearing is set to run well into next week.

Wales Online reports that Ronald Walker QC claims a “manufacturing defect” in the 265/70R15 110q tyre was to blame for the crash that happened between junctions 35 and 34 on the M4. The seven people in the car were returning to London from the Hindu temple at Skanda Vale, Llanpumsaint, where they had been “singing and playing around and listening to Bollywood music”.

Philip Shepherd QC, representing Toyo Tires will argue that the blow-out was caused by an “external impact” on the tyre, suggesting that the “rough track” leading to the temple could have been where such an incident may have occurred. The five claimants have made provision for a secondary claim against the car’s driver Kathirgamathan Paranirupasingham, should their case against Toyo fail. Both Toyo and Paranirupasingham deny liability.