High Court Lets Ford/Firestone Ruling Stand
By James Vicini
WASHINGTON (Reuters)
- The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday let stand a ruling that threw out
nationwide class-action status for product liability claims by millions
of owners of Ford Motor Co. (NYSE:F - News) Explorers and tires made
by Bridgestone Corp.'s (Tokyo:5108.T - News) Firestone unit.
The justices handed
a victory to the automaker and the tire company by declining without
comment to review the ruling by a U.S. appeals court in Chicago that
a single trial would be unmanageable.
The claims at issue
do not involve any injuries or deaths, although federal regulators have
linked rollover accidents involving Explorer sport utility vehicles
and Firestone tires to 271 deaths and more than 800 injuries.
Plaintiffs are seeking
compensation for diminished resale value of the vehicles, for paying
more than the owners should have for vehicles that could roll over,
for tires that could lose tread, and for being put at risk of death
or serious injury.
The appeals court
ruling affected more than 3 million owners of the Explorers made between
1991 and 2001 and the owners of about 60 million Firestone tires.
Lawyers for the
plaintiffs alleged the companies knew the tires and vehicles were defective,
causing "enormous economic loss to purchasers."
A federal judge
in Indianapolis initially allowed two different classes to proceed,
one for owners of the Explorers and the other for buyers of the Firestone
tires.
CLASS ACTION WOULD
BE UNMANAGEABLE
The appeals court
said a class-action lawsuit would be unmanageable because a number of
differing state laws applied and the case involved too many products
sold over a long period, with various circumstances involved.
Attorneys for the
plaintiffs appealed to the Supreme Court. They said the appeals court
was wrong in ruling that no class action is proper unless all litigants
are covered by the same legal rules.
John W. "Don"
Barrett, one of the lawyers for the plaintiffs, said the high court's
decision disappointed but did not surprise him because it is very difficult
to get the justices to review a case.
"Eventually
Ford and Firestone are going to have to meet us in a courtroom, which
is of course what they are terrified to do, because we are going to
beat them," Barrett said.
Months ago, he said,
the plaintiffs had set up an alternative plan to bring a national class
action in state court. "We have cases filed in several states,"
he said, "and we're proceeding to have them certified."
Ford spokeswoman
Kathleen Vokes called the Supreme Court's decision not to hear the case
a "victory for consumers."
"It confirms
that safety decisions should be made by the National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration, not trial lawyers," she said. "No-injury
cases should not be heard as class actions, especially in this case,
because Ford and Firestone have already replaced million of tires at
their own expense."
Dan MacDonald, spokesman
for Bridgestone's North American subsidiary, said he was pleased by
the high court's action.
"Many of these
people owned tires that were part of the recall and ended up with a
full new set of tires at no cost," he said. "These no-injury
claims are frivolous, not appropriate for class status, and would only
serve to further clog the courts."
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