Firestone lawsuit settled after mistrial, change of venue

Associated Press - August 19, 2003

PAM EASTON


HOUSTON - A $72 million lawsuit against Bridgestone/Firestone Inc. and U-Haul International Inc. in a Ford Explorer rollover case, set for trial next week, has been settled for an undisclosed amount.

The suit by three college students injured in the 1999 crash in far West Texas claimed the Firestone tires and faulty brakes on a rental trailer contributed to the wreck.

Jeff Boyd, coordinator for State District Judge Patricia Hancock, who was to preside over the trial, said the judge learned Monday the case had been settled in April although she had yet to receive the settlement agreement.

"We are pleased with the settlement and the client is pleased with the settlement," said Brian Kaufmann, a spokesman for the law firm which represented Erin Brunner, who suffered brain damage in the wreck. "It will never bring her back to the way she was before the accident, but at least this chapter is closed in her life."

Firestone and U-Haul acted with gross negligence, fraud and malice in placing defective products on the market, the three women contended in the suit.

Firestone and U-Haul blamed the wreck on operator error. The companies alleged the three were impaired by marijuana, fatigued from final exams and ignored instructions for towing the rented trailer.

"There is no admission of responsibility in this settlement," Firestone spokesman Dan MacDonald said Tuesday. "We still believe strongly that the tire did not cause this accident and that we had a very good case.

"The decision was made that it made more sense for us to settle this matter from an economic standpoint ... From a business perspective, you do what makes sense."

The crash occurred June 17, 1999, in Kent in far West Texas as the students were en route to Bay City, about 65 miles southwest of Houston, from California, where they attended college.

Lesley Milberger, daughter of prominent Bay City turf grass farmer Arthur Milberger, owned the Ford Explorer, which towed the trailer. Her friend Sally Kowalik was driving when the crash occurred and Milberger suffered a broken back.

"We've been in the settlement process for the last several months working out details," Lesley Milberger's lawyer, Larry Harrison, said. "We were able to reach a compromise and settle our differences."

Knox Nunnally, a Firestone attorney, said final papers detailing the confidential settlement have yet to be signed, but agreed it's a done deal.

Attorneys for U-Haul did not immediately return calls from The Associated Press.

The case, originally filed in Bay City, went to trial in April 2002. State District Judge Craig Estlinbaum, however, declared a mistrial when he said a Firestone attorney, in opening statements, violated limitations on what jurors could be told.

The parties tried to take the case to trial a second time later that year but it was moved to Houston on a change of venue after Milberger argued publicity about the mistrial had prejudiced any future jury picked in Matagorda County. The suit had been set for trial before Hancock Aug. 25.

Kaufmann said all three women and their families were satisfied with the settlement.

"Having to relive the whole thing over again, I know they are relieved the whole thing is resolved," he said.

The women in April 2001 settled with Ford Motor Co., which also had been a defendant in the suit.

Nashville, Tenn.-based Bridgestone/Firestone recalled millions of Wilderness tires in August 2000. It also has paid tens of millions of dollars to settle lawsuits over the tires, which federal safety officials found were prone to separate at high speeds.