Bridgestone/Firestone Settles 3 More Suits

Bridgestone/Firestone Inc. settled three wrongful-death claims this week for undisclosed sums. The wrecks allegedly were caused by tread separations on recalled Firestone-brand tires on Ford Explorers that rolled over, said lawyer Bruce Kaster, who represented the plaintiffs. Ford Motor Co. was a co-defendant in the cases and settled earlier this year with Kaster’s clients, he said. One of the cases was that of Herve Labib, paralyzed in 1999 in a wreck that killed his youngest son, Kaster said. The lawyer declined to identify the other plaintiffs. The company has settled scores of claims since hundreds of suits were filed after an Aug. 9 recall of 6.5 million allegedly defective 15-inch ATX, ATX II and Wilderness tires. The Labib suit presented the worst injury claims the tire maker has faced since it settled with a quadriplegic woman in Corpus Christi, Texas, in January, Kaster said. That case, which Ford also settled, was worth an estimated $25 million.