Healey v. Firestone Tire & Rubber Company

Healey (plaintiff) was injured by an exploding tire rim at All-Inn Trucking, Inc. Healey brought a claim of negligence and strict products liability under both manufacturing-defect and design-defect theories against Firestone Tire & Rubber Company (Firestone) (defendant). Healey presented two expert witnesses, Carl Lange and O. J. Hahn. Lange examined and inventoried the rims on All-Inn trucks, and he identified 85 of 89 rims as “Firestone-designed Accu-Ride.” However, Firestone rims were also distributed under the name Accu-Ride after Firestone sold its rim-manufacturing assets and rim design to Accuride Corporation. Therefore, those 85 rims could have included rims manufactured by Accuride after Firestone sold its truck-tire rim-making operations. Hahn examined the rims on all 10 of All-Inn’s trucks as well the spares. Hahn identified three rims that were manufactured and designed by Firestone as the only rims that could have caused the accident. Those three rims were left with All-Inn with the understanding that they would be preserved. However, Hahn described six rims as the Accu-Ride type, in contrast to being manufactured by Firestone. Biassi, an All-Inn employee, was present when Healey’s accident occurred, and he testified that the accident-causing rim was a three-piece rim. He also testified that broken and worn-out rims were discarded without any inventory control, raising a question as to whether All-Inn still had the accident-causing rim during the investigation by Healey’s experts. At least six other companies made three-piece rims. A year later, after All-Inn disclosed that it had lost the three rims Hahn had identified as the possible accident-causing rims, Firestone moved for summary judgment. Firestone claimed that the accident rim was irretrievably lost, and that Healey’s evidence was insufficient to establish the manufacturer’s identity. The appellate division dismissed Healey’s negligence and manufacturing-defect causes of action, leaving only the design-defect cause of action.