Tom Whitehurst

Lawyers knew less in '96 about faulty tires

Personal-injury lawyers' reputations are being besmirched - I know, stop the presses. Anyway, this time it's about how much they knew, and when, before exposing the lethal Firestone-Ford combo.
   The New York Times reported recently that lawyers found evidence as early as 1996 of a problem with Firestone ATX tires on Ford Explorers, but then didn't tell the government about it. The Times pointed out that most of the deaths linked to the Explorer-Firestone combo happened after that. The Times also reported a government official's dismay over not being told sooner, and quoted a law professor who said that the lawyers hadn't violated any laws or ethics codes.
   The gist was that a lot of people died because lawyers were protecting their jackpots.
   "Are plaintiffs' attorneys not human beings?" a Letter to the Editor writer asked. "Do they not have the same compassion for their fellow beings that the rest of us seem to have?"
   Defending lawyers
   Since it seems no one has asked them, and since Mikal Watts of Corpus Christi has been one of the lead attorneys in Ford-Firestone cases, it seemed sensible to let him speak for his profession.
   First, he said, the lawyers didn't know nearly as much in 1996 as they did in 2000. All they had in 1996 were a few lawsuits filed. A lot of discovering lay ahead.
   "I was on the forefront of developing that information, and I know for a fact that it was not developed until 2000. Most of the smoking guns that we now know about have come out in the last 12 months."
   Second, he said, we know what we know now because lawyers pressed those cases - not because of any good-heartedness and forthcomingness from the companies, or initiative from the regulatory agencies.
   The connection
   In 1996, according to the Times article, 30 cases of tire failure were identified. But Watts said the bigger pattern didn't emerge until March 2000, in San Antonio, during a meeting of the Attorneys Information Exchange Group, which exists to help lawyers share information on cases that have similarities. At that meeting, Watts said, 150 lawyers discovered that they had tire failure cases in common.
   That's not the only South Texas connection. One pivotal development in the Ford-Firestone cases occurred right here in Corpus Christi, Watts said, when former District Judge Joaquin Villarreal required Firestone to disclose its worldwide claims to plaintiff Vickie Hendricks, one of Watts' clients.
   "Nobody other than Firestone had that information," Watts said. "Joaquin Villarreal and our lawsuit caused it to be released to the public. Once that data was released, the recall happened.
   "I am very proud of the job that my firm personally and my colleagues around the country did in getting that information to the regulatory agencies and to the general public."
   OK, so it doesn't stretch the imagination that a product liability lawyer would see product liability lawyers as the heroes. And, OK, so the amount of money to be made in their brand of heroics does stretch the imagination.
   But which came first, product liability lawyers, or products with liabilities? The products we make aren't perfect because we're only human - as, I suppose, are the product liability lawyers.
  
  

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