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Settlement reached in first Firestone suit + question

Has anyone on this newsgroup been hurt due to Firestone
tires - enough to sue?

http://www.usatoday.com/news/ndsmon02.htm

10/23/00- Updated 08:41 AM ET


Settlement reached in first Firestone suit

NEW YORK (AP) — Relatives of a Texas couple who died after a tire blew out on their sport-utility vehicle have reached a verbal settlement with Bridgestone/Firestone in the first product liability lawsuit scheduled for trial since the company's August tire recall.

Details of the settlement, which was first reported in The Wall Street Journal in Monday's editions, were not disclosed.

Ryan Anthony Guillen, 21, and his sister, Kimberly Guillen, 18, sued the tire manufacturer last November after their mother and stepfather were killed when their Ford Explorer crashed May 30, 1999.

Nidia and Patricio Leal died when a Firestone tire unraveled, sending the vehicle skidding into a ditch near Brownsville, Texas.

In a telephone interview with The Associated Press late Sunday, Robert J. Patterson, a lawyer for the siblings, confirmed that a verbal settlement was reached Friday. He refused to elaborate.

''We finalized it Friday, although it's just verbal at this point,'' he said from his home in Corpus Christi, Texas. ''I really can't talk about the details but we've been talking for a while.''

Bridgestone/Firestone spokeswoman Jill Bratina confirmed an agreement was reached but declined any further comment.
Patterson said he expected the settlement to be formally announced sometime this week.

''The timing certainly helped a lot,'' he told the Wall Street Journal. ''Firestone is doing jury studies, and if their studies are showing what ours are, they don't have a chance.''

The case was filed in state district court in Rio Grande City, Texas, and was set to begin trial on Nov. 13.

In August, Bridgestone/Firestone recalled 6.5 million ATX, ATX II and Wilderness AT tires. The tires are being investigated in 119 deaths and 500 injuries in the United States, and more than 50 deaths elsewhere
 






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