March 2, 2001, 12:18AM
Bridgestone/Firestone has agreed to settle 26 suits involving vehicle rollovers, likely the largest group settlement related to such cases to date nationally, a Houston law firm announced Thursday.
Charles Houssiere of the firm Houssiere Durant and Houssiere said the lawsuits involve 78 people, mostly Texans, who were either harmed in accidents involving a rollover or whose family members were injured in a rollover accident.
"Two were death cases. There were also paralysis, brain damage, one woman had her arm operated on eight times and she will probably lose it. Some people were scalped and some only had cuts and bruises," said Houssiere, whose wife, Linda, was the chief negotiator of the settlement with Firestone.
The lawsuits, filed in Harris County and other courthouses around Texas, allege tread separation in Firestone tires caused their vehicles to roll over. Each suit involved a Ford Explorer.
Most of his clients, who settled with Firestone at the end of last week, had already settled with Ford in the last few months, Houssiere said.
Neither Houssiere nor Firestone would reveal the amount of the confidential settlement.
Houssiere said the negotiations, many done through e-mail, involved separate amounts for each client. A Texas Supreme Court cases requires attorneys with multiple clients suing one company to negotiate each case separately, even when they settle at the same time.
In August 2000, Firestone recalled 6.5 million tires after reports of hundreds of rollover accidents involving the combination of the Firestone tire and Ford SUV.
Ford has blamed the crashes on the Firestone tires while Firestone has blamed Ford for the Explorer design.
In January, a Texas woman paralyzed in an Explorer rollover settled with Firestone on the eve of a Corpus Christi trial. The settlement was characterized by her lawyers as the largest damage deal ever in an automobile products liability case.
The amount of the settlement obtained by 43-year-old quadriplegic Donna Bailey was not disclosed. But soon after, Firestone began working harder to settle cases around the country, especially in Texas and Florida. About 150 separate personal injury cases have been filed against Firestone in Texas alone and possibly hundreds more in other states.
"First, we find any accident that happens a tragedy and our hearts go out to (those involved)," said Jill Bratina, director of public relations for Nashville-based Firestone. "Our goal here is to work through this litigation in the most efficient manner possible."
"We have, from the beginning, been very open to wanting to talk with plaintiffs about settlement," she said.
Houssiere said Firestone apologized to his clients. He was unwilling to make any of his clients available for interview. He said one El Paso woman, who lost her sister and her 11-year-old son in an accident that permanently disabled her, said of her settlement: "This may make other areas of my life easier and help my family bear this tragedy."