Judge To Firestone: Stop Destroying Tires

INDIANAPOLIS--A federal judge here has ordered Bridgestone/Firestone Corp. to immediately halt the systematic destruction of its recalled tires, pending additional investigation into whether they will be used as evidence in lawsuits filed against the company, the Indianapolis Star has reported.

Lawyers for Plaintiffs in more than 100 cases being consolidated against the tiremaker said that Firestone has already taken back 5.2 million of the total 6.5 million recalled ATX, ATX II and Wilderness AT brand tires--and has destroyed a portion of them under its recall program.

U.S. District Court Judge Sarah Evans Barker ruled the tire destruction must cease until the matter is resolved with attorneys for the plaintiffs, the Star reported.

Firestone’s lawyers contended that the company has no room to store the tires. They also maintained that the tires are being destoyed to prevent other drivers from using them--not to hide evidence.

Barker disagreed.

Some 70 lawyers gathered at a hearing before Barker to determine the groundwork on how to conduct pretrial discovery and introduce motions. The suits are to be returned to be tried in their home courts.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating 119 U.S. crash deaths and more than 500 injuries linked to the tires, which were standard equipment on the Ford Explorer sports utility vehicle.