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Monday, January 8, 2001

Potential jurors notified
Tire trial scheduled to begin Tuesday
By Dan Parker
Caller-Times
In a court case that has gained national attention, Nueces County residents will have an opportunity beginning Tuesday to help decide whether Ford and Bridge-_stone/_Firestone were responsible for an accident that crippled a Portland woman.
   Court officials have summoned 100 people - an unusually large number for local trials - to be prospective jurors in the civil trial in which Donna Bailey, 44, claims defectively manufactured tires and bad vehicle design were to blame for the wreck that left her paralyzed from the neck down.
   If the trial begins as scheduled, it will be the first lawsuit involving the highly publicized allegations against Ford Explorers and Firestone tires to proceed to trial.
   "The Ford Explorer, on these tires, has rolled over and killed more people than any product in the nation," said Mikal C. Watts, one of the attorneys representing Bailey and her family. "It is the largest vehicular product liability crisis in the history of this country. There are hundreds of other similarly situated plaintiffs, government safety officials and members of Congress all watching this trial."
   Ford and Firestone representatives have denied the companies were to blame for the crash March 10 on U.S. Highway 181 near Poth. Bailey was a passenger in a friend's Ford Explorer when the wreck occurred.
   Bridgestone/Firestone has recalled 6.5 million ATX, ATX II and Wilderness AT tires. The government has linked at least 148 deaths to tread-separation accidents involving the tires, mostly on Ford Explorers.
   Tires not in recall
   Bailey's case involved Wilderness AT tires, but they were not among those that have been recalled. Still, the Bailey lawsuit alleges that a tire on the Explorer came apart because of a manufacturing defect that resulted in a lack of a permanent bond in the tire's components.
   Ford is being sued in the Corpus Christi case because the company helped with the design of the tire, Watts said. Ford is a target of the suit also because the Explorer is too susceptible to overturning, and its roof caves in too easily in a rollover, said Watts, of Corpus Christi.
   Bailey and her family plan to demand millions of dollars in actual damages and possibly hundreds of millions of dollars in exemplary damages, according to court records.
   Attorneys for Firestone, Ford and Bailey's family have spent late nights discussing the possibility of a settlement the past several days, but no agreement had been reached early Sunday evening, Watts said.
   Plaintiff demands
   In addition to money to pay costs including medical care the rest of her life, Bailey wants Firestone to recall all of the 15- and 16-inch Wilderness tires that haven't already been recalled Watts said.
   Asked about Bailey's demand, Firestone attorney Darrell Barger said, "That's not obviously something we're addressing. We're addressing her case. . . . Her case is in civil courts for monetary damages. That is what the lawsuit is about."
   Bailey also has non-monetary demands of Ford, including a meeting with a Ford representative, Watts said.
   "The lady breathes only with the help of a machine," Watts said. "She will spend the rest of her life lying in a bed. She believes she is entitled to an explanation of why that happened."
   While Ford and Firestone representatives have denied responsibility in the past, a Firestone spokesman stopped short of an outright denial when asked for comment last week.
   Asked if Firestone was at fault in Bailey's wreck, Bridgestone/Firestone spokesman Cliff Haas said, "I think that's something to be determined in the trial."
   "We haven't seen any unusual problems with tires that have been outside of those involved in the recall, and we just want to determine what the cause was. The data we've had shows the recall more than covered the small number of tires that had shown higher than average tread separation."
   A written statement issued last week by Ford expressed sympathy for Bailey and her family but defended the Explorer.
   Government data show the Explorer has a lower rate of fatal accidents compared with "average competitive sports utility vehicles in its class," the statement said.
   "Most of Ford's internal design standards, including roof crush, are even tougher than the federal requirements," the statement said.
   Jury selection
   District Judge Nanette Hasette granted a motion by Watts to bring in 100 potential jurors - rather than the normal 35 - to make sure attorneys can select 12 jurors and two alternate jurors who can be fair and impartial in the case.
   That could be difficult because Ford and Firestone have been the objects of extensive publicity in the tire recall and because the Explorer has been a big seller for Ford, according to court records.
   Also, prospective jurors might have fixed opinions against lawsuits because some organizations have railed against what they see as a glut of frivolous lawsuits being filed in Texas courts, according to a motion filed Dec. 28 by Watts.
   "Nueces County has been bombarded with media campaigns financed by industrial, insurance and large corporate interests," Watts wrote in the motion. "Groups such as Texans for Lawsuit Reform and Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse have littered Nueces County's freeways with billboards against personal injury lawsuits such as the one brought here."
   Drawing a crowd
   Prospective jurors could be prejudiced also because Barger, of Corpus Christi, is a prominent lawyer whose firm is well known in the community, Watts wrote.
   The trial could be crowded with news reporters and photographers. National press organizations including NBC News, USA Today and the New York Times have expressed interest in covering the trial, according to court officials.
   Trial could be moved
   Hasette is expected to rule today on whether the trial will be moved temporarily several blocks from the Nueces County Courthouse to a warehouse where plaintiffs' attorneys have stockpiled at least 17 wrecked Ford Explorers.
   The Explorers, including the one Bailey was riding in, wore Firestone tires and were involved in accidents all over the nation, Watts said.
   On Friday, Barger said he had not yet decided whether he would object to the request to move the trial to the warehouse. Ford representatives could not be reached for comment.
   Also today, Hasette is scheduled to rule on a request by plaintiffs' attorneys that Hasette order testimony by John Lampe, chairman of Bridgestone/Firestone; William Clay Ford Jr., chairman of the board of directors for Ford; and Jacques Nasser, Ford's chief executive officer.
   Attorneys for Bridgestone/_Firestone and Ford have opposed the request for the corporate chiefs' testimony.
   "It is our policy in litigation to provide the relevant information about our product to the other side's attorney," Ford spokesmen said in a written statement issued Friday. "For the most part, we do not ask for confidential treatment for any of this. We also make experts available for questioning. We will work with the court on this matter."


Staff writer Dan Parker can be reached at _886-3746 or by e-mail at parkerd@caller.com

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