Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. and Sears Roebuck & Co. have settled the $18.9 million lawsuit the tiremaker brought against Sears after claiming the retailer owed Goodyear for tires it manufactured exclusively for the retailer, the Akron Beacon Journal reported.
The settlement details were not made public, but Goodyear issued a statement saying, “On Oct. 2, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio entered a dismissal of Goodyear’s claims against Sears, and Sears’ counterclaims against Goodyear. This dismissal was based upon a settlement agreement between Sears and Goodyear which included a resolution on the sale of co-branded tires.”
The federal judge agreed to dismiss the lawsuit with prejudice after the two companies agreed to settle, the newspaper reported. The companies agreed on a settlement Friday.
Goodyear sued Sears last year in a U.S. District Court in Akron, claiming Sears had not paid Goodyear for 200,000 tires it manufactured just for Sears.
Goodyear has made Sears Weatherhandler tires since 1993 and in 2009, Goodyear and Sears signed an agreement that Goodyear would make Goodyear-branded tires and Sears Weatherhandler brand tires for the retailer.
In June 2014, Sears told Goodyear that it planned to use Michelin as its top tire supplier and stopped ordering Goodyear co-branded tires.
Goodyear’s lawsuit stated in it had an inventory of 219,994 co-branded tires in June 2014 that it made only for Sears. The tiremaker said Sears refused to take delivery of the tires and would not allow Goodyear to sell the tires somewhere else.
