Lawsuits to be Filed Against Cooper, Ford in Fatal Florida Crash

June 07, 2010

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Attorney Eric Block today plans to announce the filing of wrongful death lawsuits against Cooper Tire, Ford and other unnamed companies involving a crash last year on Interstate 295 in Jacksonville, Fla., that killed four teens last year.

Representing the four students' families, Block said a defective Cooper tire on a 1997 Ford Explorer put into motion the crash caused when a tire blew out while the students were driving on the last day of school, June 5, 2009.

Three 15-year-olds and one 17-year-old were killed in the crash. Three 15-year-olds and one 16-year-old were injured. The driver, who was 15 years old at the time of the crash, managed to steer the Explorer to an emergency lane before it overturned.

Comments (12)

Comment by:
Jim Johnson
6/8/2010
2:21 AM

Local News

Cooper Responds To Lawsuit

By Jeff Hess @ June 7, 2010 5:06 PM Permalink | Comments (2)

This is Cooper Tires' response to a lawsuit against them:

The crash was a horrible and tragic event and we have the deepest sympathy for the families and loved ones of the victims. However, this accident had nothing to do with the design or safety of Cooper tires. The tire line involved has an excellent record of performance and we look forward to defending our product.

When consumers buy a Cooper tire, they are choosing a safe, reliable and quality-engineered product. With more than 300 million Cooper tires on the road, safety is essential to our business and a continuing priority of our ongoing research and development efforts. Of course, tires aren't indestructible and Cooper Tire takes every opportunity to remind drivers that they must be taken care of, properly inflated and replaced when they are worn.

We know the following regarding this accident:

The driver, who was 15 years old at the time of the crash, is being prosecuted for the accident.

The vehicle was a five passenger vehicle -- it had five seat belts. However, there were nine occupants in the vehicle, including three unrestrained in the cargo area.

Only the driver was belted. All others were unbelted and were ejected from the vehicle.

Cooper would also like to remind people that it is important to properly maintain their tires to ensure safer vehicles and safer roads. According to the RMA, the four essential elements of tire care and maintenance include:

Checking tire inflation pressure at least once a month and prior to long trips

Periodic wheel alignment

Tire rotation every 6,000 to 8,000 miles

Regularly checking tire tread depth (should be at least 1/16 of an inch)

Comment by:
Jim Johnson
6/8/2010
2:15 AM

Story from the Florida Times Union

By Paul Pinkham

A lawyer for families of four Jacksonville teens involved in a crash that killed four Ed White High School students last year sued Cooper Tire and Rubber Co. today.

Attorney Eric Block said the tiremaker is to blame for the crash because of a manufacturing practice that makes the the tires more susceptible to tread separation.

Block filed the lawsuit on behalf of Shannon Broome, one of four students injured in the crash on Interstate 295 on the last day of school. Block said other lawsuits will follow.

Charges of driving without a license causing death are pending against the then-15-year-old Brandon Hodges in juvenile court, but Block said Hodges isn't to blame.

Also named in the lawsuit are Ford Motor Co., Big Chief Tire Co. and Imagine Cars of Orlando.

The crash was June 5, 2009, just over a year ago. Nine students, most from Ed White skippng the last day of school to go to the beach, were piled in an SUV when a tire blew on Interstate 295 and they crashed.

Kimber Krebs, 15, Dennis Stout, 17, John Kiely, 15, and Erin Hurst Livingston, 15, died. Hodges was the only one wearing a seat belt. Others were his then-girlfriend, Rebecca Pilkinton of Temple Christian Academy, Timothy Adam, Jimmy Gracia, and Broome — all 15 or 16 at the time.

Comment by:
Jason
6/7/2010
3:21 PM

WHERE WERE THE PARENT'S

Lets have some personal accountability !!!

Comment by:
Mike Poland
6/7/2010
3:17 PM

Overloaded vehicle, this should never reach the court system...

Comment by:
Bob Etherington
6/7/2010
2:58 PM

A terrible tragedy for all involved but as previous comments have stated there was no adult in the vehicle. This CHILD should not have been driving. There are numerous questions. How fast? What were the air pressures? What was the load in the vehicle?

Everyone wants to blame the tires time and time again. Look at the loads, the speed, the air temperature and the condition of the driver.

Comment by:
Red
6/7/2010
2:13 PM

I don't recall any state allowing a 15 year old to retain a legal driver's license. There is always more to the story than is reported. So I'd venture a guess that they were racing, or otherwise impaired. Afterall, guys remember how they drove when they were 16, not very safe. Not to mention NOT ONE of the passengers or drivers would have met Florida's legal requirements to have been driving at that time anyways.

Florida law saws 15 with a learners permit, BUT it requires a licensed driver 21 years of age or older to be in the car at all times. As tragic as this may be, fault can't fairly be on Cooper or Ford for the accident. Especially considering the circumstances of the age's of driver and passengers.

Comment by:
Troy Cox
6/7/2010
10:37 AM

Let's do the math--at 26 psi (the original door placard pressure recommendation from Ford) the P235/75r15 tires most Explorers ran have approx. 800 lbs of capacity above and beyond the empty weight of the vehicle. Eight teens were crowded into a vehicle with seat belts for five (but with a 15 year old driver, who knows if anyone was actually belted in) so at 125 lbs per teen average, we're 200 lbs overloaded. Even at the 30 psi recommended by Ford after the recall, they still only had approx. 300 lbs excess capacity assuming the same 125 lb per teen average-and given the size of teens is increasing, and their backpacks full of books, etc., there's no guarantee they STILL were not overloaded.

Tires to the side, there's the obvious problem of EIGHT teens, on the last day of school, running around in a vehicle with safety equipment for FIVE, with a 15 YEAR OLD at the wheel--does any rational human being, after remembering what being 15, 16, and 17 was like, really think there was a great deal of calm, restrained good judgement going on in that vehicle? Really?

This is a tragedy, for all involved, but this whole culture of "it's gotta be somebody's fault" and "someone's gonna pay" is destroying our country. Aside from the driver's parent's failure in providing a vehicle to a 15 yr old, objectively, the driver lost control well before the accident--not when that vehicle overturned, but when more riders than seatbelts were allowed in the vehicle.

Would there have been deaths and injuries--would the accident even have occurred--if there had been five total teens, in seat belts, in that Explorerer? Less weight in a vehicle known to be top-heavy and, like all vehicles with a high center of gravity, prone to rolling in certain circumstances would certainly have reduced the chances of roll-over and perhaps prevented a possibly over-loaded tire from failing, and seat belts are proven even in roll-overs to reduce injuries and deaths. How is any of that Ford or Cooper's responsibility?

But no, we've new players in the national lottery we used to call the justice system, where if your story is sad enough, even if it's largely your fault, you can get some company to pay you to go away 'cuz it's cheaper than fighting, and they will just pass on the costs to the rest of us for your poor judgement/bad luck. Truth, justice and the American way, right?

Comment by:
John Lowry
6/7/2010
10:36 AM

Another trial lawyer has tuned greif into greed. Our legal system has become a lottery, unimpeded by justice

Comment by:
John Hundley
6/7/2010
9:57 AM

We all know that tires don't "blow out" for no reason. I agree with the first two, where were the adults? It is tragic, but some education on proper tire inflation might have kept this from happening.

Comment by:
Scott Blair
6/7/2010
9:35 AM

It's too late now, but I would like to know what the pressures were in the other tires at the time of the crash. And why was a 15 year-old with a permit driving without an adult in the vehicle? Where is the parent's responsibility in this?

Comment by:
JOHN PHARES
6/7/2010
9:35 AM

8 TEENAGERS ON THE LAST DAY OF SCHOOL,ALTHOUGH

THE STORY IS TRAGIC,I THINK MAYBE MORE THAN A FAULTY TIRE AND/OR VEHICLE MAY BE AT FAULT.

Comment by:
David Norman
6/7/2010
9:28 AM

Wander what it will take for it to be realized that it is not the tires that are at fault?