— Michelin has been hit with a $220 million jury verdict in a lawsuit filed after a blowout of a Michelin LTX M/S2 tire.
According to the New Mexico lawsuit, Mr. Eleazar Marin purchased four Michelin LTX M/S2 tires for his Ford Excursion, although the lawsuit doesn't say when the purchase was made.
However, the lawsuit says the Michelin tire was manufactured in Alabama around June 2014, but nothing is mentioned about how many miles were on the tire when the blowout occurred.
Seven years later in July 2021, Mr. Marin's wife (Rosalva Marin), daughter (Laura Marin Zamarippa), and granddaughter (Alexis Zamarippa) were traveling in the Ford Excursion on County Road 211 in Gaines County, Texas.
Laura Marin Zamarippa was driving the Ford when the front driver-side Michelin tire blew out and sent the Excursion into oncoming traffic. The Ford crashed head-on into a Chevrolet 2500 pulling a trailer.
All three family members were killed in the crash, allegedly because the seven-year-old Michelin LTX M/S2 tire was defective.
According to the tire blowout lawsuit, the tread separation was purportedly caused by multiple defects.
- The Michelin LTX M/S2 tire was manufactured such that the adhesion in the skim stock between the steel belts was improper and caused the tire to blowout.
- The Michelin tire was defectively designed because it lacked an adequate belt edge package including but not limited to adequate belt edge gum strips/wedges and/or cap plies.
- The Michelin LTX M/S2 tire was made with an inferior belt system.
- The tire lacked an adequate antioxidant and/or antiozonant package.
- The tire lacked proper belt width to tread ratio.
- The Michelin LTX M/S2 tire was inadequately cured in a manner that did not allow for proper bonding of the components which resulted in linar pattern marks.
- The Michelin tire was inadequately manufactured which resulted in belting anomalies including offset belts, improper splices, irregular wire spacing, dog eared splicing, and/or gapped splices.
Michelin also supposedly failed to warn the victims of the risk of driving a vehicle with the tire.
The jury placed 100% of the blame on Michelin for the deaths of Rosalva Marin, Laura Marin Zamarippa and Alexis Zamarippa. According to the $220 million verdict, the Michelin LTX M/S2 tire was defective when it left Michelin's factory.
Michelin will likely appeal the verdict and award.
The Michelin tire blowout lawsuit was filed in the Fourth Judicial District Court for County of San Miguel New Mexico: Marc Grano, et al., v. Michelin North America, Inc., et al.
The plaintiffs are represented by Fadduol, Cluff, Hardy & Conaway, P.C.
