NEW JERSEY COURT ORDERS 14 GOODYEAR TIRE DOCUMENTS UNSEALED IN ROLLOVER CASE

In a major ruling on corporate secrecy in a rollover case, the New Jersey Superior Court yesterday ordered the full or partial release of 14 Goodyear tire documents that Trial Lawyers for Public Justice (TLPJ) and Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety (CARS) sought to unseal because of growing concerns about the dangers of Goodyear’s Load Range E tires. Tread separation in the tires has been linked to at least 86 crashes leading to 18 deaths and 158 injuries.

In a 36-page decision in Frankl v. Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, New Jersey Judge Jack M. Sabatino rejected almost all of Goodyear’s trade secret claims and ordered public access to information in the documents that he said "may help save lives and limbs" of motorists. He allowed Goodyear, however, to keep 17 documents secret, saying they chiefly contained self-critical evaluations.

"We are pleased by the Court’s decision to unseal documents that could help the public determine whether Goodyear’s tires are dangerous," said TLPJ Staff Attorney Rebecca E. Epstein, principal author of the briefs on secrecy. "The Court recognized that the public’s right to know important safety information trumps private litigants’ agreements to seal documents. We continue to believe, however, that more of these documents – and the briefs in the case – should be unsealed. We intend to keep fighting for the public’s right to know the truth about these tires and what happens in our nation’s courts."

Frankl was filed after three U.S. Air Force personnel riding in a General Motors Suburban were killed and three others were injured when a Goodyear tire came apart and the vehicle rolled over. TLPJ intervened in the case on behalf of CARS, a non-profit automobile safety and consumer advocacy organization, to seek public access to 31 sealed documents about the alleged dangers of the tires. Goodyear sells the Load Range E tires at issue in Frankl under numerous names, including Goodyear Wrangler AT and HT, Goodyear All-Season Workhorse, Kelly-Springfield Power King, and Kelly-Springfield Trailbuster. They are primarily used on passenger vans, large sport utility vehicles, ambulances, and light trucks.

"Since motorists around the world entrust their families’ lives to Goodyear tires, the company has a responsibility to disclose possible evidence of safety defects," said Rosemary Shahan, president of CARS.

The Court’s opinion acknowledged and discussed the public interest in the pattern of tire tread separations. As TLPJ’s challenge progressed, the National Highway Safety Transportation Administration (NHTSA) opened an investigation and uncovered evidence of deaths and injuries not previously disclosed. NHTSA then closed its inquiry, to extensive criticism from safety advocates, after Goodyear officially recalled Load Range E tires on ambulances and 15-passenger vans. The Court noted, "The very fact that the separation-prone [Load Range] E tires were or are in use in, of all things, ambulances, raises serious implications for public health and welfare."

The Court continued, "Even if the problems with [Load Range E] tires are now being solved, the apparent solution begs other questions, such as why did this happen in the first place and why did the problem persist for so long?" It rejected Goodyear’s contentions, among others, that NHTSA’s investigation precluded disclosure of the documents, that Ohio law governed the case or would make a difference, that the documents were privileged, and that the protective order agreed to by the parties in the case precluded public disclosure.

Co-Counsel Robert T. Haefele, of Wilentz, Goldman & Spitzer in Woodbridge, New Jersey, said, "The Court's decision was well thought out and careful in the sense that it assessed individually each document and whether each should be kept secret. However, we respectfully disagree with the decision insofar as it sealed Goodyear's self-critical documents, which may have provided the public with crucial details about what Goodyear knew, and when."

TLPJ’s challenge in Frankl is part of Project ACCESS, its 13-year, nationwide campaign against unnecessary court secrecy. Through Project ACCESS, TLPJ helps victims oppose unduly restrictive protective orders, intervenes in specific cases to fight for the public’s right to know, and educates the courts and the public about the problems posed by litigation in secret.

In addition to Epstein and Haefele, TLPJ’s legal team in Frankl includes TLPJ Executive Director Arthur H. Bryant, Chris Placitella of Wilentz, Goldman & Spitzer, and Tab Turner, of Turner & Associates, in North Little Rock, Arkansas. The July 10 decision and TLPJ briefs that the Court has not ordered sealed in Frankl are posted online at www.tlpj.org.

Plaintiffs’ counsel in the case, Christine Spagnoli of Greene, Broillet, Taylor, Wheeler & Panish of Santa Monica, California, originally challenged the sealing of these documents, asked TLPJ for assistance in unsealing them, and helped expose the dangers of these tires. Goodyear quickly settled the case with her client and argued that no one else had a right to see the documents. Spagnoli has continued to support TLPJ’s efforts to vindicate the public’s right to know.