Firestone Suit Settlement Reached

NEW YORK--Bridgestone/Firestone Inc. has reached a verbal agreement with plaintiffs to settle a Texas lawsuit over an allegedly faulty Firestone tire blamed for fatal sport utility vehicle crash, according to the Wall Street Journal. Details were not disclosed.

It is the first such suit settlement since Firestone’s August recall.

Nidia and Patricio Leal died when a Firestone tire apparently unraveled, sending their Ford Explorer careening into a roadside ditch near Brownsville, Texas, the suit alleged. Ryan Anthony Guillen, 21, and his sister, Kimberly Guillen, 18, sued the tiremaker last November after their mother and stepfather were killed in the May 1999 wreck.

The Guillens’ lawyer, Robert J. Patterson, noted that Firestone was perhaps motivated to settle because of adverse publicity that may have had an impact on the local jury pool.

“The timing certainly helped a lot,” he told the Wall Street Journal. “Firestone is doing jury studies, and if their studies are showing what ours are, they don’t have a chance.”

Patterson said he expected the settlement to be formally announced sometime this week. The case was set to go to trial on Nov. 13.

In August, 6.5 million ATX, ATX II and Wilderness AT tires were recalled by Firestone. The tires are being investigated in 119 deaths and 500 injuries in the United States, and more than 50 other deaths overseas. Other Firestone lines are also being looked at for possible safety hazards.