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Lawsuit Families Given Access to Cooper Files

Legal proceedings against Cooper Tire in the US have, in the manufacturer’s opinion, the potential to compromise the company’s trade secrets. The plaintiffs arguing that a Cooper tyre contributed to a fatal 2005 van accident have been granted wide access to documents belonging to Cooper Tire & Rubber. This court decision, reported in the Salt Lake Tribune, has been described as “breathtaking” by Cooper. A company lawyer wrote in an affidavit that the scope of the search the plaintiffs will be permitted to carry out is “broader than has ever been applied to Cooper in any product-liability lawsuit.”

28th January 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Titan CEO Taylor on Trial for Slander

(Tire Review) The chairman and CEO of Titan Tire parent company Titan International Inc., Maurice M. Taylor Jr., is a defendant in a slander trial that began December 3 in the U.S. District Court in Des Moines, Iowa. About 20 former and current Titan employees allege they were slandered when Taylor, at a news conference in 2000, falsely accused them of filing fraudulent worker compensation claims as part of union tactics during a long United Steelworkers strike at Titan’s agricultural tyre plant in Des Moines.

5th December 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Ford Reaches Settlement in Explorer Rollover Lawsuit

The Ford Motor Company has reached a settlement in the well-known class-action lawsuit that claimed the company’s popular Explorer SUV was prone to rollovers. This settlement comes two years after Bridgestone Firestone agreed to pay Ford US$240 million to settle liability over the recall of 6.5 million tyres in 2000 and 2001, a recall that took place in response to a number of fatalities in accidents caused by tread separation.

29th November 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Keep on Going, There’s no Pressure…

With the occasional lawsuit and industry murmurings about the difficulty and cost of run-flat repairs proving no more an obstacle to the onward march of run-flat tyres than a carelessly dropped nail on the road, most sectors of the passenger car tyre market are now furnished with a healthy selection of run-flat options. In December T&A examines what’s new and what’s good in the world of run-flats.

27th November 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Smartire Net Loss Lower than in 2006

Canada based tyre pressure and temperature monitoring system producer SmarTire Systems has announced that the revenue for its fiscal year ending July 31, 2007 increased to $3,661,821 from $3,455,649 during fiscal 2006. However this rise in revenue was again accompanied by a net loss; $19.6 million or $0.07 per share, a reduced loss from fiscal year 2006, in which net figures were $28.8 million or ($0.10) per share in the red.

Cash used to fund operating and investing activities in fiscal 2007 decreased to $5.1 million from $8.1 million in fiscal 2006. The decrease in cash used was primarily due to the closure of the company’s UK office in late February, the reduction in the number of company employees by approximately 45 per cent and the issuance of shares to settle debt. Smartire state it anticipates that cash required for operating and investing activities in fiscal 2008 will decrease by another 50-60 per cent of the amount of the cash used to fund operating and investing activities in fiscal in fiscal 2007. The company’s operating expenses for the year increased to $7.7 million from $7.1 million in fiscal year 2006.

19th November 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Goodyear to Pay Millions in Discrimination Lawsuit

Goodyear Tire & Rubber has been ordered to pay a woman in the US nearly $4.4 million after a jury in Seattle found the company demoted her subsequent to her complaint of being the victim of discrimination due to her sexual orientation. The lawsuit was filed by Melissa Sheffield, 47, who had been employed in a Goodyear owned retail store in Seattle for a decade before the alleged problems began in 2003.

12th November 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Hangzhou Zhongce Claims It Can’t Be Sued in US

(Akron/Tire Review) New York’s Newsday has reported that Chinese tyremaker Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber Co. has asked a US judge to rule that it cannot be sued in US courts for selling allegedly defected products. According to the story, Hangzhou Zhongce claims that a product liability suit filed against it should be dismissed because it does not “do business” anywhere in the US. The manufacturer is part of a lawsuit by a Pennsylvania man who claims he was placed in danger by buying a set of Hangzhou Zhongce produced tyres. The man is seeking class-action status for his suit. The suit was a result of the voluntary recall earlier this year by Foreign Tire Sales Inc., the New Jersey importer of Hangzhou Zhongce produced tyres.

8th November 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Court Decides CTNA Must Pay Health Benefits

Following a US court ruling Continental Tire North America has been given the responsibility of compensating the healthcare expenses of a number of retired employees from plants in Ohio, Kentucky, North Carolina and California. The US district court in Toledo, Ohio decided that the company improperly reduced the health benefits of 3,000 former CTNA employees and their spouses.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs claimed that the CTNA decision to reduce the former employees’ health benefits resulted in couples not old enough to qualify for subsidised ‘Medicare’ health care (the minimum age for eligibility is 65) paying as much as US$1,000 a month for insurance. Many former employees were reportedly unable to afford these costs and thus were compelled to drop their healthcare cover.

6th August 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Wal-Mart Loses Tyre Failure Lawsuit

American retail giant Wal-Mart must pay US$4 million in damages to a woman following court proceedings stemming from a vehicle accident caused by tyre failure. Following the accident, plaintiff Carolyn Thorne instigated lawsuits against Wal-Mart as well as Continental Tire, Ford and a Ford dealership, alleging that each of these parties were in part responsible for her injuries.

Ms Thorne was paralysed in a one-vehicle crash on April 24, 2004, when the tread on the left rear tyre of her Ford Expedition SUV separated, causing the vehicle to strike the median barrier. Wal-Mart’s legal counsel argued that the company should not be held responsible for the tyre failure as they neither supplied or installed the vehicle’s tyres, however Thorne argued that since she had her vehicle serviced at Wal-Mart the company had some responsibility in the case. Ms Thorne took her SUV to Wal-Mart to have it serviced just days before the accident. Allegedly the Wal-Mart service she opted for included tread and pressure inspections and tyre rotation. Greg Allen, one of Ms Thorne’s legal representatives, said that the tread check should have revealed a bulge where the tread was separating.

23rd April 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

USW Report Slams CTNA

An executive report recently released by the United Steelworkers in the US outlines what the union refers to as “some of the company’s most stunning failures in the North American tyre market.” The USW claim that the report, titled ’20 Years Asleep at the Wheel,’ is based upon market and industry research and interviews with independent tyre dealers, and zeroes in on “major management blunders” that are reported to have cost shareholders hundreds of millions of dollars.

The report discusses several issues the USW alleges the company did not fully disclose to its shareholders, including an overemphasis on the OE market, failure to develop an effective tyre dealer network, ineffective marketing strategy and failed sourcing and supply strategy. The USW claims that information made public as part of a recent lawsuit shows management errors in these areas have cost shareholders as much as $1.2 billion during the last five years.

19th April 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Bandag Faces Lawsuit over Bridgestone Purchase

A number of Bandag Inc. shareholders have reportedly filed a lawsuit against the retreading supplier for allegedly failing to seek offers of purchase from potential buyers other than Japanese tyre giant Bridgestone. The lawsuit was filed in the District Court in Bandag’s hometown of Muscatine County, Iowa on December 8 by the Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 572. They are seeking class action status on behalf of all shareholders.

25th January 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Court Reopens $20 million Patent Action Against Kumho Tire

Flexsys America L.P. has announced that the US District Court for the Northern District of Ohio has ordered that its patent infringement action against Sinorgchem Co., Shandong (Sinorgchem), Kumho Tire USA, Inc., Kumho Tire Company, Inc. (Korea), Korea Kumho Petrochemical Company, Ltd. (“KKPC”), and Sovereign Chemical Company be reopened.

23rd August 2006/by Tyrepress Editors

GM Sues Goodyear For Withholding Tyres

(Akron/Tire Review) The Macomb Daily has reported that General Motors has sued Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., accusing the Akron tyremaker of withholding tyres in an OE tyre pricing dispute. The suit, said the newspaper, was filed in Macomb County Circuit Court. According to the paper, the lawsuit claims Goodyear recently stopped delivering OE tyres for certain GM vehicles. The disagreement apparently stems from Goodyear’s efforts to increase OE contract pricing due to heavy raw material costs burdens.

3rd August 2006/by Tyrepress Editors

Bridgestone Sues Chemical Supplier

(Akron/Tire Review) Bridgestone Americas Holding Corp. has sued Connecticut-based Chemtura alleging that the firm and other chemical suppliers colluded on pricing. Such collusion, if proved, is illegal under the Sherman Antitrust Act. According to news reports, the latest lawsuit was a result of a previous suit against Chemtura and other chemical companies that was filed in the Northern District of California. A settlement was reached with all of the other companies except Chemtura, according to Bridgestone Americas.

14th July 2006/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin Pleased that USGP Class Action is Thrown Out

Michelin has admitted that it is pleased a class action case brought against itself, Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Formula One was thrown out of court. The case was brought following last June’s now infamous US Grand Prix. “Michelin is very pleased with [US District Judge Sarah Evans Barker’s] decision dismissing the entire class action lawsuit,” pitpass.com quoted Michael Fanning, vice president, corporate affairs Michelin North America as saying.

19th June 2006/by Tyrepress Editors